Saturniidae
by ShinyShiny9
Summary: In the aftermath of the Tournament, the ninja notice the absence of one particular four-headed dragon and set out to find it. But the world is changing - and so are they - and even as they try to get the Ultra Dragon back, Cole is left wondering if time doesn't do a little more than heal all wounds.
1. On the Magic School Bus

**Yipes! Long author's note!**

 **Bear with me, guys, I promise this is the only time it'll be long. But I'm super-super excited about this story; it's been in the works for months. Was originally going to be a one-shot . . . *laughs unhingedly.***

 **But anyway. This story exists for three reasons.**

 **First off** **—**

 **"ELIMINAAATE DRAGOOONNNNNNNNN!"**

 **—E** **h heh, sorry; just had to say that. But unbeknownst to Garmadon, the Mega Weapon actually did work that time! It just took a whole season to do it. By the beginning of "Rebooted," the Ultra Dragon was stark gone, never to be seen again except in "Shadow of Ronin," dubiously canonical. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I didn't even notice it was missing until ABCSonicKirbyWarriors pointed it out. So SKW, you're kinda the reason this story exists. How does the responsibility feel? :P**

 **Second reason, Cole. What did they do to ya, buddy? I've grown used to his Season 4 personality change by now—heck, I actually kinda like it—but it's still not the same Cole we started out with. Not by a long shot. So there's gonna be a little dabbling in the where and why of it here, and a fairly heavy Cole-centric bent all throughout. That okay with you folks?**

 **Third reason, everything else. Season 4 was the greatest thing since Spinjitzu, right up there with Season 1, but eventually I started noticing how insanely _different_ the two seasons are. So there's gonna be some rambling inspired by that.**

 **. . . I guess you might have guessed by now that it's not gonna be the most action-heavy story. There will be some rather dark/adult themes, too. But if I haven't scared off the entire audience by now, I hope you'll still give it a try!**

 **Let's see, was I going to say anything else? Mm . . . Oh!**

 **Technically this is written in LEGOs (but you can imagine 'em as humans if you'd rather)**

 **The cover image is by Joshuad17 on DeviantArt (used with his permission!)**

 **Credit for the title idea goes to my sister**

 **And it starts out juuuuust before "Rebooted."**

 **Annnnnnd lastly, the dedication. This story goes out to all you maniacs at Kelviniana. All but one or two of you will probably never read this, but whatcha don't know won't hurt you.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago, LEGO, or anything else referenced here.**

* * *

 _It's time to begin, isn't it?_

* * *

"Hey! HEY! Not the hair!"

The Ultra Dragon, being an interdimensional being of near-limitless elemental power, had no respect for Kai's hair. Then again, nobody else did either, but interdimensional beings were definitely part of the focus group. Anyway, the head that had formerly been Flame was lovingly attempting to improve Kai's hairstyle (it seemed to be partial to the dragonlick), while the former Wisp was cheerfully swinging an irate Jay from its reins. The objective had been to move the dragon out of the front yard of Sensei Wu's academy before the school opened—because really, being able to use the front door was kind of important—but the elemental reptile seemed determined not to budge from its lounging spot.

"I do not understand," said Zane, giving Sensei Wu a questioning look. "The Ultra Dragon has never been this unruly; the last time we had this much trouble was just before the individual dragons left for their final transformation."

"He does seem a bit more . . . restless," murmured Sensei Wu. "Dragons are never restless for no reason."

"But he can't be undergoing another transformation, right? I thought he was all grown up!" said Cole.

"Could've fooled me!" called Jay grumpily, just before his grip on the reins slipped and he flew into Kai.

"This _is_ the final adult form, I know that for certain," said Sensei Wu, tugging his beard in thought. "Although I must admit there is much I don't know about dragons. But I do have a theory . . . "

"Theory? I'll take theory!" Jay sat up, looking hopeful.

"Well . . . after all, this is the _adult_ form . . . " said Sensei Wu slowly.

He was met with four silent stares, directed first at him, then one by one at the Ultra Dragon.

"No _way_." Jay scrambled to his feet and trotted over to sock the lightning dragon's head lightly on the snout. "You're out to get yourself a _girl?_ Well why didn'cha say so? You're gonna need some advice!"

Wisp's head abruptly snorted and yanked back as if in panic, while the other three heads made various noises of dismay. Jay looked disgruntled as his friends burst out laughing, but Wisp nuzzled him apologetically until he relented and gave the dragon a rueful pat.

"Fiiiine, wise guy. You're on your own. But don't blame me if you freeze up in the middle of a pickup line!"

* * *

The Ultra Dragon left within less than two weeks, after a lot of petting and well-wishing. Sensei Wu had obtained a little bronze whistle that made no sound when you blew into it—at least not that the ninja could hear—but apparently the Ultra Dragon could sense the call of the whistle from pretty much anywhere. Nobody was too keen on breaking up any potential dragon honeymoons, but if they were ever in grave need, they knew they could call for their pet's help.

Truth be told they missed having the Ultra Dragon around. Besides which, the students at Sensei Wu's academy had been looking forward to having the world's most awesome class pet, so the lack of Ultra Dragon irked them. Brad in particular was ticked at having to ride the bus on field trips instead—a sentiment that the ninjas were beginning to share.

"Seriously," protested Kai, reaching across the aisle to separate Cole from the bus's microphone. "Why didn't you just tell them the Ultra Dragon's left?"

"Oh, no no." Cole waved a hand. "Then we'd have to tell them where it went."

"So?" piped up Jay.

Cole raised an eyebrow at him as the bus lurched out of the driveway and turned towards New Ninjago City.

"Well hey, you're the science teacher. Feel like explaining the whole 'circle of life' deal to these curious young minds?"

Jay spluttered.

"Thought not," said Cole smugly.

"Life is circular?" From the back row, Zane gave a curious tilt of his head. "I am not familiar with that expression. How does one quantify the shape of an abstract concept such as life?"

"It's not really a circle," said Kai patiently.

"Yeah, I've always thought it was kind of more of a pear shape," added Jay, illustrating with his hands.

"Pears? . . . " Zane, looking just a hint skeptical, caught Nya's eye in the bus's rearview mirror. It wouldn't be the first time his brothers had told him something outlandish to mess with him, but Nya usually gave him a straight answer. Turning her eyes back to the road, Kai's sister shook her head resignedly.

"Don't look at me. With you guys around, _everything_ goes pear-shaped."

"Hey!"


	2. DragonQuest

**H'lo again! Forgot to mention, updates will be every other day, unless something drastic happens. I've got most of this sucker pre-written. X3**

 **Thank you very much to both guest reviewers! ^_^**

 **GUEST05:** **Ahhh, Cole. Such a mixed bag there . . . I like how they've been showing off his kind-hearted side, ceding the match to Jay and going back to save the other factory workers, but I am definitely not crazy about the food obsession and general loopiness. He wasn't exactly _serious_ back in the old days, but he had a head on his shoulders; he knew when it was serious-leader-time and when it was time to club Zane with pillows. :P **

**. . . No disorders, though. Nope. Nuh-uh. Nyet. Don't get me started.**

 **Aww, hadn't thought of Sensei Wu teaching him! That's a sweet idea. ^_^**

 **Thanks again! I hope you enjoy what's in store here. :3**

* * *

 _Every man is guilty of the all the good he did not do. - Voltaire_

* * *

Had it really only been a year? It boggled the mind. One year ago exactly they'd set out on that fateful field trip to Borg Industries. Two weeks—a measly two weeks!—and their world had rocked; they'd been set at each other's throats, dragged through outer space, and suddenly rendered four instead of five. There was a blurry haze of grief and anger and drudgery in between, when they all went their separate ways. Then there was Chen's tournament and invasion of Ninjago, another heart-pounding hurricane of a few weeks. Heaven forbid this become an annual thing.

But now it was over. The strange mixture of misery and guilty relief tasted familiar. As the days slipped by, most of the Elemental Masters went home, leaving condolences with Garmadon's grieving family. It was hard on Misako, a lot of change and loss to take at once. Sensei Wu attempted to console her, but seemed reluctant to get too close—perhaps he knew what it would look like. He himself did not mourn.

So mostly it fell to Lloyd, who quietly took up the yoke. He did his best to comfort his mother, and he didn't cry once, at least not that anybody knew of. Maybe he was used to the feeling by now.

It was odd, though. You would _think_ it was genetic and couldn't change. But by methods unknown—even when he did start smiling again—it was never once that lopsided smile he and his dad had shared.

The ninja were all a little lost, now that the action was over. They were back together again, they had the _Destiny's Bounty_ , it should have all been just like the old days. But what were they to do with themselves?

Zane was talking to Cyrus Borg about getting a new outer shell like his old one, and hopefully rebuilding PIXAL. Borg found him a very bright conversationalist and hinted occasionally that he was interested in a partnership. Cole had lost his lumberjack job when he skipped out for Chen's Island, but he wasn't sure if he wanted a new one or not. Jay was between seasons on his TV show, and he seemed to miss it; he talked frequently about having to continue production on the next season. Kai simply didn't show up at the slither pit anymore. The others didn't even know about his exploits there, and when Lloyd brought it up once Kai only turned away.

So the elephant kept lounging in the room. Everyone seemed to expect that the five of them would go back to being a ninja team, and in a way they all tacitly assumed that too. But privately, each one of them was a little surprised at his own reluctance, at the simple lack of enthusiasm towards the idea. So everybody found other conversation topics.

"One thing I forgot to ask," said Nya over lunch one day. "Sensei, what happened to the Ultra Dragon? When I was on Chen's Island with the boys, you mentioned you were going to summon him and send him over to help. Didn't he ever show up?"

"Actually, he did not," admitted Sensei Wu, looking slightly startled at the realization. "I did summon him, but there was so much happening at the time that I soon forgot about it. That is rather strange . . . "

"It's been a year," said Kai, tilting his head. "How long does dragon mating season last, anyway?"

"Maybe he's in the middle of raising his kids or something?" said Cole. He glanced at Kai's plate. "You gonna eat that pickle?"

Rolling his eyes, Kai pushed the plate across the table.

"I don't know if raising kids would be _that_ time-consuming, that he couldn't even swing by to let us know he was okay."

"What if something's happened to him?" Jay looked uneasy. "Or wait—what if he's forgotten all about us?!"

"Then it'd be pretty rude of us to remind him," said Kai drily.

Still, they were all a little worried. Now that they had something specific to do, they were all too happy to go for it—so a Ninjago-wide search for the Ultra Dragon began. The creature was recognized pretty much everywhere, just like the ninja themselves were, but all the farmers and villagers they questioned didn't recall seeing a large four-headed dragon within the past year.

In the end it was Kai who found the lead. Stopping for dinner in a little inn, he heard some of the travelers there swapping stories. One of them mentioned a nearby mountain which seemed to be haunted—flashes of light would come from it at night, he said, and the place was plagued by earthquakes and freak snowstorms. Some people swore they had heard distant moans and cries coming from the place, echoing creepily.

The mountain was quite distant from any human settlement, just close enough to see from the nearest village and a few local roads. Miles of forest separated it from any curious souls who might wander down that way. But the ninja were more than curious souls; besides, they had the _Bounty._ It was only a matter of rounding everyone up (Nya and Sensei Wu came along too, of course) and cruising until they found the right mountain.

At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was a nice green peak, spread with meadows and the occasional small tree, settled cozily in the midst of the forest all around. But when they climbed only a little way up the northern flank, they suddenly came upon a gaping cave mouth, perfectly angled so that it was hidden from the ground and most directions in the air.

The cave mouth led into a tunnel, which angled down sharply. They proceeded carefully in through the darkness, led by Zane with his eyes glowing blue. They all held flashlights, but they didn't turn them on—they weren't sure what might live in this cave, and they didn't want to alert it if it wasn't friendly.

"Aren't we pretty much back at ground level by now?" Jay's voice echoed.

"Shhh!" hissed Kai.

"Do you hear that?" whispered Cole suddenly.

They all stood still for a moment. The distinct sound of breathing echoed up from below, so deep and slow that it had to be a massive creature.

"It sounds close," whispered Kai.

"Really close . . . "

"Ultra? . . . " called Lloyd softly.

A sudden sharp _whoosh_ , and the entire tunnel was coated with ice. There were various startled yelps as feet lost purchase on the sharp and now slippery incline, and seconds later everyone was at the bottom of the tunnel. Zane actually managed to land on his feet, but it didn't do him much good because everyone else was behind him and not quite that agile.

"Ultra?" called Lloyd again, pushing himself upright. His voice echoed hollow and slow, indicating that they had landed in a fairly sizeable cave. Dim light filtered in through a few cracks in the distant ceiling—and just as everyone's eyes started to adjust, there was a heavy rustle of movement and a pale shape loomed through the murk. _Four_ pale shapes.

"It's him!"

There followed an affectionate reunion. All four dragon heads first nudged at Lloyd politely (he was, technically, the Ultra Dragon's true owner), but they soon turned to greeting the other ninja and Nya as well. Each of the four heads still remembered his own master best, and besides, the beast as a whole was just the teensiest bit miffed that Lloyd preferred his own Golden dragon. Just a little.

Zane soon became the center of attention. He stood a little shyly as all four massive heads studied him from every angle, nudging him occasionally, sniffing curiously at his hair, drawing back and tilting in scrutiny.

"Didn't anyone ever teach them it's not polite to stare?" joked Cole.

"I expect they are confused because I look different," said Zane awkwardly.

"Relax, they'll still like you fine!" Jay scoffed.

Flame's head seemed the most fascinated by Zane's new metallic form, making the most thorough inspection. At last, after a final sniff and a long hard look into Zane's eyes, it nodded and gave a light doglike sneeze, coating the Nindroid with soot.

"Congratulations," Kai grinned at his startled friend. "You've been approved."

Zane coughed, but smiled.

"Thank you," he told the dragon with his usual grave earnestness, and received a rare nuzzle from Shard's head in return.

"Boy, you missed out on a lot, pal," chuckled Jay, rubbing Wisp's snout. "The whole party. How do you figure—" Suddenly his voice cut off as if something had just lodged in his throat. A second of tense silence, then he called "Guys . . . " in a tone that grated sharply against the others' cheerful conversation. The others turned towards him and fell silent one by one as well. Jay's hand was resting centimeters away from a jagged scar blazed across Wisp's cheek. It ran back along the dragon's head, terrifyingly far down its neck . . . and as everyone's eyes inadvertantly followed the wound back, more scars. Lashed across the back of the neck, all across the shoulders, down the sides, glinting a sickly pink in the dim light. Flashlights clicked on all over the cave, and now the Ultra Dragon was the one being examined.

It was veritably crisscrossed with scars. All over. Bite marks, claw gouges, sloppily healed over, some of them fading, others looking like they had been infected. The ninja looked at each other silently.

"What exactly _happens_ during dragon courtship rituals?" asked Jay at last.

And for the first time they realized that the Ultra Dragon, despite its happy greeting, had not gotten to its feet.

Sensei Wu brought his dragon thermometer. The device's archaic numbers were printed at outlandishly uneven intervals—apparently dragon temperature followed an otherwordly scale. Sensei took the measurement, squinted at the thermometer in disbelief, then tested it against his own palm. Finding the reading correct, he tried the dragon's temperature again.

"This can't have been a courtship ritual," frowned Kai meanwhile. "It looks like he got into a fight. One _heck_ of a fight."

"Perhaps the males compete over the females," suggested Zane, stroking Shard's nose worriedly.

"And . . . our dragon lost?" said Cole in disbelief. "He's the _Ultra Dragon!_ "

"Maybe the other dragons ganged up on him." Nya twisted her hands anxiously. "Maybe having four heads made him an outcast."

Sensei Wu read the thermometer again and shook his head in amazement.

"His temperature is incredibly low," he said. "He's very sick."

"Could he have caught something from the other dragons?" asked Kai.

"It's quite possible. I have never heard of dragon-borne diseases, but . . . "

Cole listened to the others' anxious discussion, his eyes fixed on the lethargic Ultra Dragon. Only now did he notice that the creature's ribs showed plainly all along its scaly underbelly, like the framework of a half-finished ship. His own stomach lurched; dragons, like many reptiles, could go for months without food.

"How long has he been lying here?" asked Nya softly.

Cole shook his head, numb. That dragon had saved their lives over and over; they could never have beaten the Great Devourer or the Overlord's first assault without their pet's loyal assistance, its knack for showing up at just the right time. It had risked its own life for them and for Ninjago. And this was how they repaid it? Leaving it to lie sick and wounded in a cave, all alone, for possibly a _year?_

They couldn't have known, of course. But that didn't make the guilt any less nauseating. It hung in the air almost tangibly as they all regarded their ill pet, silent. Kai bit his lip, swinging one fist in sudden determination.

"We didn't do anything before, but we can do something now. We're gonna heal this dragon up."

"Yeah! Now that we're here, we'll get you back on your feet in no time," promised Lloyd, rubbing Flame's forehead. "Hang tight big guy. We're gonna bring you a five-star meal, and then we'll see about some medicine."

The dragon gave an odd reptilian purr, all eight bright eyes gleaming, and nuzzled the ninja affectionately one last time before they started to head back out through the tunnel. At the last minute Jay slipped away from the others and darted back to throw his arms around Wisp's muzzle.

"Unlucky in love, huh boy?" he mumbled. "I feel ya. It's like war."


	3. I Hear Secrets That You Keep

**Did I mention there was gonna be angst here? There is gonna. BUCKETS of angst. Bring buckets. I'm not joking. My room is full of buckets to store all this angst in. (Okay, okay, so I am joking. Not about the angst though.)**

 **GUEST05: Awww. Thank you very much for the review! ^_^**

 **Heh, fair enough, fair enough. He's definitely the nicknamingest out of all of them, though. You have to work to find a time he _doesn't_ call the others by nicknames.**

 **Wait, have you seen the second half Season 4? I wouldn't want to spoil it for ya . . .**

 **Aha, you caught the reference! Nice. X3 The triangle, tho . . . heh. We'll see.**

* * *

 _Can you tell me who you are?_

 _Can you tell me where I am?_

 _I've forgotten how to see._

 _I've forgotten if I can._

 _-Touhou, "Bad Apple," English version_

* * *

The Ultra Dragon refused to eat. They brought it all kinds of nourishing foods, tempted it with sugar cubes (more like half-pound sugar _bricks_ , this was the Ultra Dragon), but all to no avail. Even Rocky's head, which everyone had always joked ate enough to satisfy the entire body all on its own, sniffed at the liver-and-toads Cole offered and only gave its favorite treat a half-hearted lick. The dragon's temperature never rose above dangerously low levels, and it lacked the energy even to spread its wings.

Sensei Wu wracked his brain, trying to remember the sparse information he'd picked up over the years regarding the care and feeding of dragons. Nya contacted Misako, who started going through all the scrolls on dragons she could find, and called up a few of the other Elemental Masters, just in case someone out there knew something. Somehow she also managed to get the Bounty tapped into Wi-Fi this far out in the wilds, but she was disappointed to find that dragons were not very well-documented on the internet. Most of the results she turned up were just news articles mentioning the Ultra Dragon, or fantasy games where you could play as a dragon, or ridiculously ill-informed webpages proclaiming utter nonsense. There was one particular "science and mysticism of dragons" site that they would have found hilarious, if the situation hadn't been so grim.

Finally they had a breakthrough. Cole happened to phone home to catch up with his dad, and they got to talking about the Ultra Dragon's condition. Lou brought it up with the rest of the Royal Blacksmiths, and it turned out that one of them happened to have heard of a real live dragon expert—right in Cole's hometown! The ninja were a little skeptical that this person was legit, since even the internet didn't mention him, but they certainly weren't about to ignore a chance like that.

"We're gonna have to leave for a bit, 'kay?" murmured Cole, stroking each of the Ultra Dragon's noses. "We've set up to meet with a guy who can help you. He's an expert, so he'll know what's wrong. You're gonna get better, ya know?"

He made one last attempt to get Rocky's head interested in the liver-and-toads, sighing as the dragon ignored the morsel entirely.

"Nya says the _Bounty'_ s ready; we're heading out in half an hour," announced Jay, appearing in the entry tunnel. Cole reflexively opened his mouth to say something snappish, but caught himself at the last second. It was slightly unnerving how often that happened nowadays. Had fighting with Jay become _that_ deep-ingrained a habit?

Settling for a mute nod, he turned back to Rocky's head and found that the dragon seemed more interested in sniffing along the floor idly than even looking at the liver-and-toads.

"If you change your mind," mumbled Cole, leaving the treat where the dragon could reach it. He snuck a glance over to Wisp's head, where a discouraged-looking Jay was offering a sugar block and having similar lack of success. For a second he considered going over to say something comforting, but matters hadn't really reached that point. Even though he and Jay were no longer fighting, it's not like things just went back to normal as if nothing had ever happened. It's not like they _could_ have. In a sense they had nothing to say to each other anymore, and they wouldn't have known how to say it even if they did.

* * *

They piloted the _Bounty_ over to the village where Cole had grown up, stopping in to visit his dad first and bringing their old boater hats from the talent show as a joke. There'd been a little anxiety that it would be painful for Lloyd, so soon after losing his own father—but he seemed fine, asking questions about the talent show and ragging the others for having fun without him. While he'd been captured by the Serpentine, no less.

"Fair warning," said Cole as they approached Lou's house. "Lloyd, this is the first time my dad's seeing you while we're not in the middle of saving Ninjago or something. If he asks you if you have any song or dance skills—run."

"Ah, come on. I'm game for it if he's got ideas," said Lloyd casually. "I'm not so bad at breakdancing."

"Do _not_ tell my dad that you even acknowledge breakdancing," grinned Cole.

"Traditionalist?" Lloyd gave a faint smile back.

"The traditional-est."

"What if I bring up dubstep?" asked Kai from the back.

"Depends. Do you have a death wish?" Cole deadpanned over his shoulder, ringing the doorbell. They waited for a few seconds, then the tap of a cane and the sound of a limping step filtered through the door.

"Hi Mr. Brookstone!" chorused most of the visiting crowd as the door opened, while Cole grinned and gave a "hi there!" wave.

"Ah, there you all are! I was wondering when you'd show up," said Lou with his usual gruff joviality, waving them inside. "Straight from a competition, eh?"

"Not really, Dad," laughed Cole, hugging him hello as the others trooped indoors. "More for old times' sakes."

"Fair enough," grinned Lou. "I swear, you've all changed so much since I saw you last. Jay! Any improvement in that singing voice?"

"Still hitting notes only sitars can play," said Kai, earning an indignant snort from the lightning ninja.

"And who's this, then?" asked Lou cheerfully, squinting. Everyone froze, and an awkward silence suddenly crashed down from the ceiling like a cold shower.

"It's me, Mr. Brookstone. Zane," the Nindroid cut in after a moment, smiling. Still, Cole's heart remained lodged in his gut; having seen how Zane reacted to the Ultra Dragon's scrutiny, he suspected his friend was still more than a little anxious about his rebuild and how different he was from the "original." Either way, not being recognized by a close acquaintance had to hurt.

Lou seemed to register this too. He fumbled with the head of his walking stick for a moment, his moustache twitching, then muttered something about the lighting and seemed to search for a recovery method. Kai, quick thinker, "accidentally" knocked over a floor lamp to provide a welcome change of topic. A touch inelegant, but effective. He even managed not to break the lightbulb.

It soon turned out that a lot of Lou's possessions were in boxes. He explained that he had gotten tired of "rattling around" in this house and was looking for a smaller place. Although he hadn't found one yet, he had his eye on some apartments two blocks down and was already starting to pack up some of his non-essential goods. The ninja, of course, offered to help out.

The news was a little startling to Cole, to be honest. This had been his family's house since he was little, and even though he'd only lived there until he was nine (and then came a certain apocryphal stay at Marty Oppenheimer's School of Performing Arts), he still had a lot of memories of the place. He found himself looking around the rooms a little more lingeringly, as if subconsciously trying to commit them to memory. Here in the living room there'd been a Christmas tree (and that glorious year he'd gotten a harmonica), here in the kitchen he'd lost his first tooth while eating a pilfered cookie (and panicked, since he hadn't known baby teeth were supposed to do that), here in the front hall was where he'd seen his mother last. He tried to shake that last one away.

It was then that he remembered the attic. There was a little space underneath the roof, right above the hallway—Lou didn't keep anything in there since he couldn't manage a ladder with his bad leg. Cole, however, had stashed a few boxes of his own things there when he'd left for Marty Oppenheimer's, and dropped off a few other items now and then after mending relations with his dad. He figured he'd better get the boxes down from there before they got left behind. For now he could take them into the _Bounty_ so Lou wouldn't have to move them.

Unlike those fancy attics with fold-down ladders, this one was just a square opening in the ceiling with a wood frame and painted plywood cover. Cole looked up at it, debating whether he felt like going back to the _Bounty_ to fetch a ladder. Nah . . . he'd stick with the easier method. Fetching an umbrella, he stood on his toes and poked the cover up and away. Then, sizing up the china cabinet just a little down the hall, he backed up, took a running start, and used the side of the cabinet as a braceboard to the ceiling. His hands met the wooden edge of the attic entrance and he swung once, then hoisted himself up and in. Sitting back and brushing off his hands, he allowed himself a tiny smirk. Yep, still had the moves.

He looked around the cramped space, with its slanted walls made of bare wood joists and insulation, and bit back a sneeze. The boxes were still here all right, shoved off to one end of the little man-made cave. Crawling over, Cole flicked on the bare lightbulb hanging from a wire overhead and began shifting them about.

Inevitably he was struck by the urge to rummage. Old boxes just have that effect on people. Almost straightaway he found a carton filled with all his favorite books and comics from when he was little, and there went the next forty-five minutes. He barely even registered the sound of the others passing by occasionally in the hallway below, and nobody noticed the attic cover was open either. People don't tend to randomly look up at the ceiling very often.

Eventually, however, Cole heard his own name and snapped out of the corny adventure book he'd so lovingly dog-eared when he was eight. At first he thought someone was calling him and started to call back, but then he realized that the conversation was still going on below him.

"No, I have not seen him." It was Zane's slightly-echoey voice. "He might have gone back to the _Bounty_. Do you want me to find him?"

"No, no, that's fine. He'll turn up," Lou's voice replied. Cole hesitated, wondering if he should let them know he was right over their heads before they said any more. He who eavesdrops never hears any good about himself . . .

. . . On the other hand, as long as he went in assuming he was going to hear no good, it might be kind of fun. And besides, eavesdropping was a ninja thing, right? Lloyd and Jay did it all the time. Learned that one the hard way.

Grinning slightly, Cole settled back, careful not to make a sound, and tuned in his ears. The conversation turned out to be fairly stale, however, as Lou and Zane merely discussed some details of the packing process and that new diner downtown where Lou insisted the liver and onions were to die for. Cole shook his head in annoyance at that; he'd _warned_ his dad about fried foods . . .

Then the conversation seemed to lull. Zane made some polite inconsequential statement that was clearly a prelude to excusing himself, but Lou cut him off.

"Just a minute there, Zane. As long as we're alone, I . . . wanted to apologize for not recognizing you earlier. Didn't mean to throw you in for a loop like that."

"That's quite all right, Mr. Brookstone," said Zane, an odd mixture of cheerful and uncomfortable. "I—guess I do look very different now."

"Not that different," said Lou gently. "Just shinier. Don't take it as a sign of anything, son; these old eyes aren't what they used to be."

"I know," Zane's voice fell. "My condolences."

Up till now Cole had been smiling in a mixture of sweetness and guilt at having caught such a sensitive moment, but now he stiffened. Condolences? What? Why?

"You know? What? How?" Lou also sounded startled, put on his guard.

"I . . . I'm sorry," stammered Zane. "I ran an automatic physiological scan earlier, by accident. I didn't mean to pry."

Or Pixal had run it and Zane was covering for her, Cole thought distractedly. She seemed to be in charge of all the old and new features Zane now commanded, and she still wasn't quite socially adept enough to know about niceties like invasion of privacy. But that was only a thread in the very back of his mind; his heart was pounding now as he strained his ears. What had the scan found? What did Zane know? What if . . . it couldn't be . . . no, no, it must be something else—please—

Meanwhile Lou was grumbling something indistinct about nothing being sacred anymore, but his heart was definitely not in it.

"I suppose it'd be pointless telling you otherwise, then," he said at last, heaving a sigh. "Yes, Zane. I'm going blind. Doctor says two years tops before I'm fumbling in the dark."

A silence.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Brookstone," said Zane softly.

"Ah, we all dance to the tune life plays us," scoffed Lou, leery of anything like pity. There was the sound of a hand closing around metal. "Don't tell anyone. Don't tell _Cole_."

"But how will you—"

"I'll be fine. The smaller house will help me find things, and if I really can't make it I'll tell someone. Get help somehow. But I don't want Cole knowing this, not for as long as possible. His place is on the ninja team, protecting Ninjago, and I don't want him worrying about me. I don't want him feeling guilty or thinking he should be here fussing over me instead. He needs to be out there with the rest of you."

Another silence.

"Promise me you will keep this to yourself," said Lou, his voice taking on that terrifying stern note of yore.

"I . . . cannot promise." Zane sounded anything but happy. "But I will keep it quiet for as long as I feel is possible."

Lou sighed.

"I suppose I'll have to be satisfied with that." He put a hand on Zane's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Listen to me. The five of you, you've got something special. I'm proud to know my son is one of you; as long as you stand as one, Ninjago has nothing to worry about. Stick together. Look out for each other. All right?"

"Of course," said Zane quietly. "Always."

Lou gave another slow sigh, then chuckled wearily.

"All right. I think that's enough rambling. You mentioned there were stacks of old newspapers in the back closet, yes?"

"Err—yes, I . . . think so?" said Zane, and the continuing conversation drifted away through one of the hall's doors.

Cole sat motionless in the attic, feeling like his insides had been blown to pieces. Blind. His father was going blind. No more playing the piano. No more watching dance competitions on television and grumbling about youngsters' sloppy form these days. No more collaborating on sheet music with the Royal Blacksmiths. His life's greatest passion, dancing, had already been taken away when he hurt his leg; now almost everything else that brought him joy was going after it. _Blind_ . . .

Cole slumped back against a box and buried his face in his hands.


	4. Talking in Your Sleep

**Mehhhhh . . . this chapter is short and goes nowhere. Originally it was supposed to be much longer, but then it got TOO long and would have been a serious chore to read. So I split it in half. Sowwy. :(**

 **Guest: Thanks very much for the review! ^_^ Heh, it did cross my mind, but I'd thought Cole's official last name was Brookstone. So it really is Bucket, eh? Dang LEGO, don't toy with me like that. :P**

 **Glad you're enjoying it! Updates every other day. :)**

 **GUEST05: Thank you to you tooooo! Ooooooh, you got a bunch of nicknames that I missed. Hmm, I also have Tin Can, Lug Nut, Blue Boy, Hotshot, and "the kid"; that makes seventeen total! And I bet there's more . . .**

 **Ohh, I didn't know that! I thought the ones with the ghosts were going to be Season 5. Ah, either way, I'm lookin' forward to 'em. :3**

 **Glad you liked the angst! This is onnnnnnly the beginning . . . Thanks for the kind words! ^_^**

* * *

 _Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus. - Hogwarts' motto_

* * *

The rest of the afternoon crawled by agonizingly. For the first (and probably last) time in his life, Cole actually wished he'd spent some time at Marty Oppenheimer's. Just long enough to take some acting lessons. Luckily, his attempt at a mask of unconcerned cheerfulness seemed to hold up; nobody asked any questions. As evening drew nearer, they bid Lou goodbye and went to meet the dragon master at the agreed-upon street corner. It was in a rather shabby part of town.

"I'm still not sure about this," said Kai grimly as they stood around waiting. "How reclusive do you have to _be_ to not get mentioned on the internet even once?"

"Yeah, even my parents' scrapyard has a website," agreed Jay. "And I don't know how that happened, because electronic devices tend to die when my dad touches them."

"Seriously?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Jay shrugged. "I guess I had to get my elemental powers somewhere, you know. My dad might not look it, but he's an electrical menace. Handy for picking up new scrap items."

Kai fell silent, his expression shifting as he tried to wrap his head around the concept of the loquacious, slightly daffy old Ed being an Elemental Master.

After a while, a wiry, ragged-looking man came shuffling towards them. He was quite short, his hair was greasy and cast into tight ringlets that framed his face, and his hands twitched aimlessly while his eyes flickered over the little group. Weaselly was one word that came to mind.

"Are you the ones with a sick dragon?" he asked, his voice oily and low, but strangely piercing.

"Uhm, yeah," stammered Lloyd, while the others were still blinking in bewilderment. They hadn't been sure what to expect, but all the same they hadn't thought it'd be along these lines.

"I am Vaal," said the dragon master.

"Lloyd," said Lloyd, a little thrown. "A-and Kai, Cole, Jay, and Zane."

Vaal nodded.

"Lead the way."

And with that they set out.

"You don't have a problem with flying, right?" said Kai.

"All is the same to me," shrugged Vaal. He continued to say nothing as they walked along through the gathering evening, but he ceaselessly scrutinized them all with his sharp dark eyes. There was something deeply irksome about the way he did it.

"So," said Jay, digging into the stock of questions they had prepared to test the guy. "You must know a lot about dragons. What's dragon society like? Do they have a pecking order or something, or are they above that kinda stuff?"

"Not entirely," said Vaal shortly. "Dragons are solitary creatures, but they do not fight if they do gather in groups. In such cases, dominance is assumed by the dragon who roars the loudest. They have very sensitive diaphragms in their inner ears, much more precisely tuned than ours, which can differentiate between volumes as little as three decibels apart."

Jay raised his eyebrows—he'd known the answer up until "roars the loudest," but he hadn't expected a scientific explanation on top of that.

"Say, something that always bugged me," spoke up Cole. "Why do dragons lick their forefeet so much? Ours used to just sit and lick their ankles all day sometimes."

"They have small oil glands just by the spur of their backwards-facing toe," replied Vaal. "They lick the glands and then the rest of their bodies to spread the oil over themselves. It gives each dragon a unique identifying scent, keeps their scales in good condition, and makes them more aerodynamic."

Cole nodded, satisfied. They'd noticed the oil seeping from their dragons' ankles early during their adventures in dragon ownership, and they had theorized as much regarding the reason for it. It definitely wasn't anything you could find on the internet, though.

Under the guise of innocent curiosity they asked several more difficult questions, things they figured you could only know after years of owning a dragon. Vaal answered them all correctly, without so much as a moment's hesitation. There was little doubt that he was vastly knowledgable on the subject, but somehow the others' anxiety didn't abate in the slightest.

Eventually they got back to the _Bounty_. Nya had it parked low over the outskirts of town, bobbing at the end of the anchor chain in the gloom of night, looking quite imposing in its newly-renovated glory. Vaal, however, seemed thoroughly unimpressed.

"A dragon's-head prow," he grunted, casting an eye over the figurehead at the ship's bow. "Uninspired, and an insult to the species. It muddies the name of an interdimensional creature to have its likeness crudely hacked into wood to decorate the flimsy constructs of man."

The ninja exchanged glances, some of them pulling faces. It might not be a dragon, but they were pretty proud of the _Bounty_ , and talking smack about it didn't go over well. Meanwhile Vaal said very little throughout the voyage and turned down the offer to share dinner; he bundled himself up in blankets and sat on the deck near the bow, meditating. Or staring off into the sky, whichever it actually qualified as.

"I'm starting to seriously wonder if he's legit," muttered Kai, peering through a window at the huddled form.

"Are you kidding?" Jay scoffed. "Nobody non-legit would act like _that._ You've gotta be real to be that weird."

* * *

It was two AM by the time they got back to the mountain where the Ultra Dragon was holed up. Sensei Wu explained to Vaal that they had arrived, but it would be dark inside the cave and the dragon would probably be sleeping.

"It can wait until morning," said Vaal coolly, not making a move.

"If you care to sleep . . . " began Sensei Wu, but Vaal shook his head.

"I am fine here."

So they left him there. Everyone else stumbled off to bed, except Cole, who made a pretense of organizing the boxes he'd brought from his dad's house. Really he just shifted them around in the corner of the mess hall until he was pretty sure everyone was asleep.

As soon as the coast seemed clear, he slipped quietly off the side of the _Bounty_. Vaal was still bundled up near the prow, but he seemed to pay no mind either way, and Cole didn't concern himself about that. Cautiously he crept his way down the tunnel leading to the Ultra Dragon's cave, a single flashlight casting a feeble beam before him.

The dragon was still alive (oh come on, he scolded himself, no reason why it shouldn't be), and very peacefully asleep in all four heads. Cole knew better than to wake it; messing with the Ultra Dragon's sleep patterns was a risky game. Every nth time you tried it, you would get a dragon cranky enough to make Stone Warriors look cuddly.

He played his flashlight over the scarred, scaly body, watching the rise and fall of the back as the giant creature breathed. Flicking off the light, he stepped closer to Rocky's head and felt the familiar warm, dusty breath washing over him as he drew near. Carefully he felt his way along the dragon's neck until he reached the shoulder; then he settled down in the hollow between Rocky and Wisp's necks. He'd often done this before, back in Ninjago City before the Stone Warriors' invasion. When their dingy little apartment grew uncomfortably hot, or when they were all grating on each others' nerves from being in such close quarters for too long, or—well—even he felt down sometimes—he would head up to the roof and spend some time in the dragon's silent but sympathetic company. He didn't doubt the others did this too, just that they'd never caught each other at it.

He lay back, feeling the gentle rumble of the dragon's lungs against his back and head. By this time tomorrow, they would hopefully know what was wrong. Hopefully there would be a way to fix it. He couldn't imagine what they would do otherwise. Just sit back and watch their pet wasting away? Brrr, no.

Soft footsteps suddenly caught his attention. He jumped slightly, but made no sound, waiting for the unknown visitor to show up. A dancing beam of light flickered down the tunnel and skittered across the floor; by the gait and the dull twinkle of red fabric he recognized Kai.

Soon the flashlight went out, and there was a soft murmur and blink of a different, ruddier light. The glow revealed Kai, crouched by Flame's sleeping head, holding a tongue of fire in one hand and gently running it up and down the dragon's muzzle. Apparently this was a soothing sensation for a fire dragon, because Flame made a blissful noise through his sleep and snuggled his head closer. Kai laughed softly and sat down cross-legged, still stroking the dragon's nose.

Cole eyed the setup, smirking. Normally Kai would have been able to pick up on his presence instantly by the sound of his breathing, but here the Ultra Dragon's four heavy breaths (all out of sync too, however that worked with one set of lungs) drowned out any hope of catching a human sigh. If he was stealthy, he'd probably be able to get up and move around without Kai hearing too. Now the only question was if stepping up behind him and laying a hand on his shoulder heavily would cause him to yelp loud enough to wake the dragon.

Deciding to take the chances, Cole pushed himself upright and began to slide his feet along the floor. Suddenly the light danced as Kai started, and he gave a gruff call of "who goes there?!" Cole froze. How had Kai managed to—

"'Who goes there?' _Seriously?_ " said another voice, and Cole realized Kai hadn't heard _him_ after all. So now Jay was here too. So much the better, it'd make sneaking up easier.

"Give me a break, it's three in the morning," grumbled Kai. "What are you doing down here?"

"Came down to check on the ol' Ultra, same as you," Jay murmured back. "Is he doing okay?"

"No worse, anyway." Kai yawned.

Cole resumed stepping softly out from between Wisp and Rocky's necks. He had nearly passed Rocky's head when Jay suddenly blurted, "Look, Kai. As long as we're alone—"

Cole froze again. He'd had _quite_ enough of eavesdropping on private conversations for one day, and he did _not_ want to hear another. Yikes, better make his presence known straightaway—he fumbled for a moment as to how—

And then Rocky's head shifted in its sleep and curled around, coming to rest squarely on Cole's foot.

Oh, just _peachy_.


	5. Careful Making Wishes in the Dark

**Y'know, I think I nominate "We Dreamt Our Dream" as the official song of this story. Ponies and all. Link on my profile if you wanna give it a listen.**

 **A big thank you to everyone who's been reading or reviewing so far! I know I promised the author's notes wouldn't be long, but this is review replying. That's a whole 'nuther ball game, folks.**

 **Also, a thank you in particular to Team Guest Reviewers, Guest and GUEST05, for their spectacular tag-teaming skills! Between the two of you, the blog link was constructed. It was adorable. Thanks for that. X3**

 **And yeah, I totally agree, those two got along great back in the old days. Such a shame that triangle had to go make a mess of things . . . the other thing is, Cole used to have a ton of fans, and then when the triangle started suddenly people hated him. Cryin' shame.**

 **Now individually!**

 **Guest: Thanks very much for the review! Glad you're liking it so far; updates every other day, so next time's Wednesday. ^_^**

 **Heh, and thanks for the follow-up on the link. You and GUEST05 should get to know each other. :P**

 **GUEST05: No worries! FFN has this system where I have to manually approve all guest reviews before they show up on the review boards, and I wasn't on the computer till now. That's why it didn't show up. :)**

 **Thanks for the review! Haha, is serious but still crazy about puns . . . you know what, that reminds me of Leonardo from the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And he's the leader of his team too!**

 **Heh, I guess a lot of people might like long chapters, but some wise guy I used to know said the proper range was 1,000-3,000 words. And I dunno how most people read fanfictions, but I usually read mine on a really tight schedule; mid-length chapters are my favorite because I can actually read them in one sitting. ^_^''**

* * *

 _After a time, you may find that "having" is not so pleasing a thing after all as "wanting." It is not logical. But it is often true. - Spock,_ Star Trek

* * *

Cole squirmed back, trying to pull his foot out from under the dragon's heavy chin, but Rocky had always been an affectionate critter. Feeling the warmth of Cole's body, he sighed happily and nuzzled closer until Cole was nearly pitched over backwards. He was definitely quite securely pinned. Grinding his teeth in frustration, he opened his mouth to call out and let the others know he was here, taking the risk of waking the dragon.

Too late. Kai was already saying "It's about Nya, isn't it?" in a tone of resignation, and Jay was mumbling in a manner that indicated it most definitely was.

"I'm going to regret this," sighed Kai. "But go ahead."

Cole fought the urge to smack himself in the forehead. He couldn't just materialize now, the conversation was too far gone. Maybe it would be nothing important . . . maybe it would go nowhere . . . He wanted to cover his ears, but he needed both hands to cling to Rocky's head so he wouldn't fall over backwards. Stupid lunk of a dragon.

There was silence for quite a bit as Jay searched for an intro. Cole prayed fervently that he would just give it up, and probably Kai was hoping the same thing, but Jay was aiming to disappoint.

"I figured," he said at last, "that you kind of know Nya best, being her brother."

"Sometimes I feel like I don't know her at all," replied Kai glumly. "What goes on in her head is usually a mystery to me, honestly."

"But come on, you're related and everything," persisted Jay. "You talk and stuff, right?"

"Look, Jay, if you want me to put in a good word or something—"

"No, it's not what you think," interrupted Jay. "It's not that."

"Well, what then?"

"It's just that . . . well, I . . . ever since the Tournament of Elements, I've kind of been staying back. Cole backed off and all, and Nya knows that, but I haven't asked her out or anything. It just . . . I don't know. It was all too shook up, you know?"

Kai gave a noncommittal grunt.

"And I'm getting the feeling that she's catching on to that," said Jay slowly, weighing each word as he spoke it. "She keeps looking at me funny, like she expects me to say something. And I'm starting to think, if I don't say anything soon, she's going to ask _me_ if I'm taking her on a date. And . . . and do you think it would freak her out really badly . . . if I said no?"

Silence from Kai. Cole gave up fighting the oblivious Rocky and sat down, stomach churning. He didn't like where this conversation was going at _all._ Not if he was going to have to bear witness to it. He shouldn't be here!

"You want to say _no?!_ " said Kai at last.

"M-maybe."

"Huh." A pause. "Playing hard to get?"

"No!" Jay spluttered. "Nothing like that!"

"Oh no?"

"I mean, it—it crossed my mind," said Jay awkwardly. "But it's not the main reason. It's just that . . . well . . . " He sighed, and his voice dropped. "Nya and I were dating for more than two years. We seemed to be going steady, I thought it was kind of a given. But then—the Perfect Match Machine comes into the picture, and all of a sudden she _can't choose_. Two years of steady dating, and she still isn't sure if she even likes me any more than the next guy. If she had that hard a time making up her mind, well, I figured she didn't . . . " Jay's voice wavered. "Didn't . . . really love me. All this time, I'd been forcing her to hang out with me because I was so crazy about her, but she just did it for my sake, not because she really wanted to." He took a shaky breath. "And that's not fair. I can't pressure her into being with me if she doesn't want to. I have to back away."

" . . . You just _now_ decide this?!" Kai's voice was full of disbelief and a little anger. "Now?!"

"I know, I know!" protested Jay miserably. "I should have realized that ages earlier, before I started fighting with Cole. I should have. But . . . it just . . . all I could think of right then was that I was going to lose her. And after that things just kept going and I never even thought of backing down. I couldn't take it; even now it took me ages to talk myself into this. I . . . I love her so much, Kai . . . "

More silence. Cole squeezed his eyes shut. _You should not be here_ , his brain screamed. _Should! Not! Be! Here!_ Briefly he wondered if selling his soul to the Overlord in exchange for teleportation powers would be warranted, but eventually he decided that might be a _little_ extreme.

"I can't believe it," said Kai at last. "All that fighting. You put Nya through it, you put yourselves through it, you put the rest of us through it. You think it was fun for us, standing aside and watching you act like idiots? And now that Cole's bowed out and the fight is over— _now_ you suddenly realize maybe you should back off?!"

"I'm sorry," said Jay softly.

"Ugh. No, it's . . . " Kai heaved a sigh. "Well, maybe it's not all _right_. But I kind of get it. Kind of. Two months ago I'd have said you were insane, but—heh—I guess I know what it feels like now. Being crazy for someone. It's not really something you can think logically about, is it?"

"Nope." Jay still sounded drained, but the note of relief in his voice was clear.

"Yeah, so." The faint shadows on the cave walls danced as Kai fiddled awkwardly with the flame in his palm. "Back to your point, I think it would be okay. If she asks you, go ahead and say no—if you can actually spit it out, that is. It might give her a little bit of a shock, but maybe she needs one."

"I don't want to hurt her," said Jay.

"And I'm not giving you permission to!" warned Kai, his voice balanced precariously between teasing and "try-it-and-you're-dead." "You'd still better be nice to my sis, Jay. But if you can turn her down nicely, more power to you. Having you two fighting over her went to her head; she could use a wake-up call." There was a beat, then he added a puzzled, "What?"

"That is _cold_ , Kai."

"What is?"

"She's your sister!"

"So?" Kai snorted, twirling a little wreath of flame over his head. "It doesn't mean I can't notice when she's being a jerk. You and Cole were being stupid, but she wasn't really helping the situation with all her guessing games. Heck, she was making it worse, and I still don't know if it was on purpose or not. I tried to talk to her about letting you both off the hook, but she is _not_ the kind of person you can talk to. I say one word, and she's all 'you're not the boss of me!' and 'what makes you think you can' and 'I'll handle my own decisions!'" He snorted again. "Like it would kill her just to listen to a bit of advice."

There was a muffled snicker.

"I already know, and I don't want to hear it!" warned Kai, which set Jay off completely.

"Yeah, yeah, so it runs in the family, look who's talking, pot calling the kettle black. Ha," Kai muttered, shoving Jay lightly. "You can shut up now."

"Sorry." Jay recovered, then sobered entirely and sighed. "Wow. So. If I can pull this off, two whole years about to go down the drain. And man it's going to be awkward afterwards. Seriously, I don't know if I can do this . . . "

"Well, can't help you there," said Kai. "But you never know, it might not be over after all. Maybe she'll still choose you." His voice softened. "It'll turn out for the best, Jay. I don't want to get your hopes up, but I think it definitely could be that she—you know, feels the same way. Just hang in there."

"Thanks, Kai."

"Any time." Kai punched him. "Now, are you done being touchy-feely?"

"I'm done," said Jay, sounding relieved but exhausted.

"Good. Because I'm going to bed." Kai stood up and stretched. "You coming?"

"Nah. I'll hang out here a little longer," said Jay. "G'night."

"Night," mumbled Kai, and shuffled off through the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Cole's heart had performed a spectacular leaping arabesque, followed by a rather painful fall downstairs (at least that was what it felt like). It would have been perfect if they'd both gone back to the _Bounty;_ then he could just shove Rocky off himself and sneak back before dawn without issue. Now, however, he would have to wait until Jay was done visiting with—

—Oh lord. Cole's heart skipped the stairs this time and plummeted straight down one of Chen's trapdoors. Jay and Kai had been talking next to Flame's head, on the Ultra Dragon's far left, but now Jay would probably come over to check on Wisp—the dragon's far right—and directly next to Rocky. If he was in a habit of resting between Wisp and Rocky's necks the way Cole was . . . well, Cole did not want to think about that.

Once more he cursed his luck in general, and Rocky's lousy timing in particular. That was a conversation that should have stayed private. He could have done very well without hearing it, and if either Jay or Kai found out he'd heard the whole thing, they would probably never trust him again. How many times was he going to have to remind himself that he shouldn't be here?

Jay's footsteps pattered closer. Cole held his breath and didn't move . . . and mercifully, Jay moved onwards, to the other side of Wisp's head. The one good thing about Rocky's stupid sleep-squirming was that his head now blocked most of the space between his and Wisp's necks.

There was some shuffling from the other side of Wisp, and some muttering, most of it too low for Cole to understand. Somehow from the rustle of fabric he could tell that Jay had settled down on the floor with his back against Wisp's neck, right by the crest. He was probably stewing about the situation, half to himself and half to the sleeping dragon. Poor guy . . . Cole winced, realizing all this was at least partially his fault. He could have bowed out sooner. He could have ignored the blow to his ego when Jay first accused him, been the bigger person and not gotten dragged into the fight. Heck, he could even have told Nya to back off when she started hitting on him . . .

He could have seen sense much sooner. True, maybe it was a good thing for Jay to back away a little if Nya really did seem that ambivalent towards him—but this had to be one of the more painful ways of going about it. For all concerned.

Jay had gone silent quite a while ago. Cole was just wondering if the lightning ninja had fallen asleep, and if he should try sneaking out of here before _he_ fell asleep, when he heard a soft sniffle. His heart snapped.

 _Should not be here. Should. Not. Be. Here._


	6. It's All About Balance

**La tee da!**

 **Don't ask me why, 'cos I dunno.**

 **GUEST05: Thanks for the review! Heh, funny thing, I used to think Cole was a little bland myself. He didn't really have a "defining trait," like Zane is robotic or Kai is feisty . . . essentially he was the most "normal" of all of 'em. XD I came around, though. You just have to look a little harder to figure Cole out. :)**

 **Yeah, Lloyd's been taking charge quite a bit through the last season. Part of me wonders how much of it is just the others playing along to humor the kid. XD**

 **Yep! It's come in very handy more than once. Spam, trolls, OC naggers, random angry people, the whole spectrum of 'em. XP**

 **Awwh, glad you liked the chapter! Misery all around, b'lieve me. The only thing worse than crying alone is knowing somebody's crying and not being able to do anything about it. I've been there. It sucks.**

 **Haha, no intentions of taking my time whatsoever! I have each chapter already written, and the hard part is waiting to put up the next one. :P**

* * *

 _There is an energy which springs from sickness and debility: it has a more powerful effect than the real, but, sadly, expires in an even greater infirmity. -Novalis_

* * *

The next morning, Vaal joined the others for a hasty breakfast as soon as dawn grayed the sky. It was the most awkward meal in anyone's recollection; everyone nibbled uneasily at their food and tried not to sneak glances at Vaal, who was sitting and staring off into space with a stony expression. He ate only a bit of fruit, nothing else.

"I would love to see this guy walk into a disco," whispered Kai. "He could put it out of business just by standing there."

They went to the Ultra Dragon's cave immediately afterwards. Vaal followed them down the tunnel without comment, but when he saw the Ultra Dragon, dimly illuminated by flashlight beams and morning light filtering through the cracks in the ceiling, he suddenly froze. His eyes roved over the creature for a moment, and something about his manner seemed to come alive.

"So it's true," he murmured. "It really is four fused into one . . . "

Without further preamble he began to prowl all around the dragon, prodding at its scales and tugging at its claws and muttering to himself. The four heads were still drowsy and somewhat bewildered at waking to the attentions of this stranger, but very soon Vaal began to lurk from head to head. As he studied each dragon's teeth and eyes he murmured something softly, and every time the individual head suddenly snapped wide awake, gazing at him intensely with bright, amazed eyes. Fifteen minutes, and he seemed to have become the Ultra Dragon's new favorite person: the usually shy and reserved Shard was rubbing against him lovingly, and the normally rebellious Wisp allowed his mouth to be pried open to check the back teeth—and Wisp was notoriously touchy about his teeth.

"Well, he does seem to have a way with dragons, anyway," said Cole under his breath, watching with arms folded.

"Dunno what they see in him," grumbled Lloyd, just a touch jealous.

Eventually Vaal returned, his expression unchanged.

"Well?" asked Cole, as the dragon master was fixed with seven hopeful gazes.

"He is sick," said Vaal, as if they needed confirmation of that. "His energy levels are depleted to almost nothing."

"But why?" asked Jay. "Does he have an infection or something?"

"Nothing that simple," retorted Vaal grimly. "The illness is caused by an instability of elemental energy."

He got some quirked eyebrows.

"The four dragons are imbued with four elements, are they not?" he said impatiently. "Fire, lightning, earth, and ice. Yet they are fused together into only one body with their elements mingled. That is not a natural state, not supposed to be sustained. I am amazed this creature did not become ill much sooner."

"But—but if he's not supposed to be fused, why did he?!" demanded Cole. "Wasn't merging part of the normal growing-up . . . thing?"

"In all of Ninjago's history, dragons have never before been seen to fuse while completing the final molt. After all, most of them have elemental powers, and it is very difficult for different elements to coexist in close proximity. A precarious balance can be maintained, with great effort and precision—and the interplay of elements does create much greater power while it lasts. But inevitably, the balance will break, and the elements will begin to conflict. Violently."

"Like the Tornado of Creation!" blurted Jay suddenly, his eyes wide. "If you balance it just right—the most powerful move ever. If you do it just a little wrong—disastrous consequences!"

"And that's what's happening to _him?_ " whispered Nya.

Vaal shrugged silently.

"But . . . _Why?_ " Kai voiced what they were all thinking. "Why did the four dragons fuse? Didn't they know it would make them sick later?"

The others traded silent looks. Somehow, even as it terrified them, they all knew: the dragons had done it for them. For Ninjago. For the superior power that had let the Ultra Dragon stand a chance in their battles. Now it was just paying the price for its devotion.

"What can we do?" asked Sensei Wu steadily.

"You have to bring his energy levels back up," replied Vaal. "Then he will hopefully be able to stabilize his elements again. I will give you a recipe for an energizing mash you can prepare for that purpose."

"But he won't eat!"

"Dragons are intelligent," replied Vaal coolly. "They'll never eat anything that they know will be poisonous or indigestible. Right now, almost _all_ foods are too much for his stomach to handle; but he will eat the mash. He'll know it will help him, and there are certain ingredients in it that are essentially irresistable to dragons."

The ninja exchanged dubious glances. If Rocky wasn't touching liver-and-toads, it seemed unlikely anything else was about to go down any dragonish throats. But what else was to be done? Apparently the mash was their only hope.

Back on the _Bounty,_ Vaal asked for paper and pencil and began to write down a lengthy list of ingredients and procedures.

"So what about the scars?" asked Jay. "Do dragons have really intense fights for mates or something?"

Vaal looked up.

"So those scars were not from battling under your care?"

" _What?!_ " spluttered Jay, scandalized. "He was fine when we let him go off to find a mate, and next we saw him he's like that!"

"Ahhh." Vaal's expression softened ever so slightly; evidently he'd thought the scars had been their fault. "That is interesting, actually. Even I do not know anything about dragon mating habits—no courtship rituals have ever been observed, nor have any dragon eggs or even nests ever been found. Most people assume that dragons cross over into another dimension to mate and raise their young, but some people say that dragons just might not mate at all."

"What do you think?" asked Jay.

"I prefer the former theory," conceded Vaal. "They go through adolescence and transform into adulthood, so it stands to reason there must be an infancy before that. A few ancient documents also describe 'dragon younglings' that sound like juvenile versions of common elemental breeds." He resumed writing with a thoughtful expression. "Actually, I have been curious about that aspect of dragon lifestyle for a long time. If you do find out anything concrete about its mating and child-rearing habits, let me know."

"Sure thing," said Jay. "Least we can do."

"And do try to pay slightly better attention to your dragon's habits and health," added Vaal, sighing. "I will confess I am appalled at the ignorance you all show, considering how long you claim to have owned this creature."

The ninja gave each other dismayed looks. In hindsight, testing Vaal by asking him all those questions mayyyyyy have backfired just a little.

The recipe was uncommonly long. Sensei Wu was first to read it, and he had quite a few questions for Vaal about the details of the procedure, what things were and where to get them and what in the _world_ that verb there entailed. After answering the questions and making sure everything was understood, Vaal gathered up his blankets and struck out.

"Don't you want a ride back?" asked Cole. "There's miles of woods out there!"

"I would rather travel by foot. I watched the way here; I know the way back," retorted Vaal, and loped off into the trees without anything else in the way of a farewell. The ninja stared after him curiously.

"Welllllll, then," said Jay at last.

"We'd better get to work," sighed Lloyd. "What's on that recipe?"

* * *

"I love this," groaned Jay, resting his forehead on the back of a neighboring chair. "They can tell us where the pileated whatsisname plant grew during medieval times, during the last Ice Age, and roundabout the dawn of the dinosaurs. But where it grows _now?_ First Spinjitzu Master forbid!"

Lloyd rolled his eyes at the ceiling; he'd never quite gotten used to his granddad's name being used as an oath and/or imprecation. He hoped his dad's and his own weren't about to go the same way.

"The growth patterns of pileated gullymoss are tightly guarded," said Misako patiently over the video link. "It is a very delicate plant with very particular needs, and picking or carelessly destroying even a little too much of it could cause years of decreased supply. Even extinction."

"How do we know it's not already extinct, then?" asked Kai grimly.

"The tea growers of the eastern forests," said Misako. "Every year they produce a new batch of herbal tea made from pileated gullymoss—very good for healing wounds and restoring the body after blood loss. Only the tea growers know where the moss can be found, and they cultivate it with great care, passing down the craft from generation to generation. Convincing them to tell anyone else where it grows will probably be . . . difficult."

"Perhaps we do not need to," said Wu. "I have several acquaintances in the tea trade, and they may be able to connect me to someone who could supply us with some of the moss."

"If it's super-rare and tightly regulated though, how are we going to afford it?" fretted Jay.

"The tea-trading world does not function solely on hard currency," said Wu. "I am sure they will be willing to negotiate for something else."

"I hope so," sighed Nya, tallying figures in a notebook. "We're riding the ragged edge of disaster as it is—those jungle gourds weren't cheap."

Cole balanced his chair on the back two legs and listened distantly to the continuing discussions about gullymoss and other bizarrely-named plants. It had been going on like this for two days now—finding all the ingredients for the dragon mash was turning out to be fiendishly complicated. Once they did have everything, they would have to procure an enormous cauldron of some sort and boil the ingredients in a very particular order, for a very particular amount of time—upwards of several days. It was definitely going to be a long week or few . . . but they weren't complaining. At least they had something they could do.

"I've had it with this," said Kai at last, waving off the continuing deliberations. "I'm out of here. Is there anything on that list that we can actually get, you know, from around _here?_ "

Nya sighed and perused the ingredients list.

"All right, restless people. Out."


	7. In the Interests of Pinecones

**Do me a favor, guys. Don't read this chapter. Or the next one.**

 **I'm not even joking. These two chapters are entirely unnecessary to the plot, one of the main reasons this thing is T-rated, and will do things to certain characters that I'm pretty sure people won't be too happy about. Entirely gratuitously. I'm not exactly proud of 'em.**

 **But somehow I couldn't let 'em go, so here they are. Do yourself a favor too, wait around for Chapter 9.**

 **. . .**

 **What, you're still here? Wellllllll, okay then! I tried to warn ya. :P**

* * *

 _Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. -Abraham Lincoln_

* * *

It took all of ten minutes for Kai (and a similarly antsy Lloyd) to be chivvied out into the nearby woods with instructions to fill two gunnysacks with unripe, unopened pinecones.

"Don't know why they need to be unripe ones," grumbled Kai. "It makes a difference if they're still on the tree or something?"

"Hey, at least we won't have to go far!" said Lloyd, squinting up at the distant top of a whispering pine. "Pinecones are easy. Come on!"

He slung a gunnysack over his shoulder and whisked up the rough treetrunk. The branches didn't start until pretty high up, and even then they were broadly-spaced, but he didn't mind. Trees felt like home to him; he'd always loved climbing things. Kai was no slouch himself, of course (in terms of raw agility he was the best out of the entire team), but he couldn't quite match the squirrel-like manner in which Lloyd hopped and scrabbled his way upwards.

Reaching as close to the apex as he could, Lloyd settled comfortably on a branch and looked around at the blanket of tossing green extending in every direction. Then he looked down at Kai, who was slightly breathless and just catching up to him. He almost grinned and made a teasing comment, but something held him back, and in the end he just settled for a faint smirk and raise of his eyebrows. Kai snorted in reply and straddled a lower branch, untangling his own gunnysack from his arm.

For a while they worked in silence, finding tightly-closed green pinecones and tugging them loose from their stems. The first hint of conversation was a "Hey, do you think this one's good? It's opened a little." "Nah, better safe than sorry. There's plenty more."

It felt so peaceful. The air was sharp and sweet, more lively than the soft stillness at ground level but still laced with a woodsy pine scent. The breeze shooshing and the sturdy snap of pinecones being harvested mingled into a soothing melody. It would have been the most companionable feeling in the world if not for the unacknowledged awkwardness between the two of them. It had been like that since they got back from Chen's Island, a sort of hesitation whenever they spoke to each other, as if they were both worried the other would bring up _that_ one particular topic. That moment when Kai, eyes red, had gritted out, "I should have been the Green Ninja!" Some issues had come to light that they really didn't want to drag any further into the open.

Hmh. Then again, maybe it would solve the situation if one of them did.

"So, Kai," began Lloyd.

"No," said Kai bluntly at once. He leveled a warning look up at Lloyd with one eye.

"You didn't even hear the question . . . "

"I know that tone. Just don't go there, all right?"

"And what, just keep on stewing about it for the rest of our lives?"

"It'll blow over," growled Kai. Lloyd snorted.

" _You,_ pushing something under the rug and hoping it goes away? Really?"

"Well, it's not like there's anything else to do about it," muttered Kai, yanking a pinecone loose with much more force than was necessary. "I don't like deep talks, kid."

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. Sure sign Kai was feeling threatened if he was going back to treating Lloyd like a ten-year-old. Dealing with Kai was like trying to befriend a suspicious tiger: get it feeling cornered and it'll bite your head off.

"Look, it's not that big a deal," he said soothingly. "But it's bugging both of us, isn't it?"

"Don't look at _me._ What's eating _you?_ "

Man, he was evasive. Sighing, Lloyd dropped down to straddle the same branch that Kai was working on.

"I don't hold it against you. The whole . . . thing with the staff. Honest. It wasn't your fault. But . . . well, I've been wondering ever since. How much of that was the staff talking, and how much . . . " He shook his head. "How mad are you, exactly?"

"Just now?" asked Kai with a meaningful glower. Lloyd waved his hands uneasily.

Kai went back to plucking pinecones, still scowling. At length he looked at the latest one he'd picked, realized it was much too overripe for their purposes, and hurled it off into the woods.

"Pretty mad," he said, eyeing Lloyd grudgingly. "So yeah, no. It was not the staff talking. Not so much. And yeah, I'm a petty jerk who's been jealous of you all this time. So there, you've got your answer. You _happy?_ "

He was boring through Lloyd with a hot, defiant glare now. The younger ninja winced and avoided eye contact, momentarily lost for an answer.

"Well?" Kai's voice was a bitter challenge. _Go on, say something patronizing. I dare you._

"Look." Lloyd drew in his breath. "I'm not going to apologize, Kai. I'm sorry things didn't work out the way you wanted, yeah. But I didn't _choose_ to become the Green Ninja; I'm not gonna say I'm sorry for something I had no control over."

"I don't want your apologies," said Kai coolly.

"Then what do you want?"

"Nothing. Nothing that I can actually get. Wanting can't change the fact that I wasn't the chosen one, but that doesn't stop me from wishing I was. I'm going to keep wishing that for the rest of my life. That's not about to go away."

Lloyd swung his legs and studied the branch below him, heart aching. How did you reply to something like that? How did you make it fair when your very _identity_ made you lucky, and it cost you your best friend? There was no way to fix it.

"Well?" said Kai again, plucking the scales off a pinecone moodily.

"Well, nothing," sighed Lloyd. "I mean, I guess you're right. If I really wanted something, and worked really hard for it, and then some little brat stumbled in and got it without even trying, I'd be mad too. I just . . . " He sighed. "So then . . . I guess I can't ask if we could still be friends."

Kai gave an irritated groan.

"That _would_ kind of be having your cake and eating it too, yeah."

Nodding, Lloyd managed a shrug, keeping his eyes down and picking at the corner of his gunnysack. Kai sighed.

"Be realistic here, all right?" he continued. "We have Cole. You're lucky if you even _see_ the cake."

Startled, Lloyd looked up to find the fire ninja smiling wearily. He waved a hand in resignation.

"Listen, I never said it was personal, all right? I'm ticked that you got lucky, not ticked at _you_. If that makes any sense. Anyway. We're still cool, I guess."

Lloyd couldn't resist a relieved smile.

"Thanks," he said softly. Kai rolled his eyes and scoffed, grinning.

"It's more than you deserve," he needled.

"Hey, _you_ tried to kill me back there." The tension wasn't quite gone, but it had subsided enough that they could joke again, and they were both eager to push away from the difficult part of the conversation. Hopefully the situation was settled now. "Say, hold on, that part _was_ the staff's idea, right? The whole 'let's scrag the Green Ninja' part?"

"Want to bet?" smirked Kai.

"I don't know, there was the whole 'switching to Chen's side' act just before it," Lloyd deadpanned.

"Huh." Kai tilted his head, looking smug. "I mean, I know I'm a good actor and all, but I didn't know I had you _that_ convinced."

"Well, for a while, anyway. I started to think something fishy might be up when you tried that evil laugh. Honestly, that was kind of pathetic."

Kai gave an amused snort.

"Yeah? Who do you think I learned it from?"

Lloyd blinked at him for a moment. Then he glared.

"I did _not_ sound like that."

"True enough. You were a lot worse." Kai dodged a pinecone and rolled his eyes. "No, really, you were a little monster back then. Honestly I'm surprised. Even between the four of us and Sensei Wu, I would not have expected that we'd be able to whip you into any kind of shape at all." He blocked another pinecone. "What, you deny it?"

"I'm not about to agree with it," retorted Lloyd, grinning, but relented slightly when Kai raised an eyebrow. "Well . . . okay, but seriously. Fair enough; you guys did pretty much teach me everything I know about this ninja stuff. And yeah, I do owe all of you. Majorly."

"Ohhh, you don't _say_." Kai leaned back, just the faintest touch of bitterness possibly working into his voice. His tone overall was still jovial, though. "So you actually admit you had some help getting where you are today?"

"What, do I usually not?"

"I dunno. Prophecy and all that. The way people carry on, you'd think you'd have become the Green Ninja no matter what, with or without us."

Lloyd snorted.

"With the kind of company I was keeping? Ambitions to be the next force of evil to hit Ninjago?"

"Ambitions to start a worldwide sugar shortage . . . " added Kai drily, eyeing the sky. Lloyd shoved him.

"Seriously. It wouldn't have stopped at candy. Green Ninja, nothing; if it wasn't for all of you guys, I'd have wound up as some kind of mohawk-wearing punk getting high on Venomari spit in the back alleys of Ninjago City."

Kai gave him a startled look.

"What?" asked Lloyd.

"Nothing, nothing," said Kai, shaking it off and finally turning back to search for more pinecones. "I just . . . didn't know you knew about that kind of stuff."

"Hello? You were babbling nonsense and crashing into things for a whole day, that one time?" scoffed Lloyd, clambering back up to resume his work too.

"I mean, I know you knew what Venomari spit did, but I didn't think you knew about . . . "

"The recreational uses? 'Scale juice'? 'Slobber'? The illegal labs trying to create a synthetic version? The black market and cartels and dealers?" Lloyd shrugged. "Sure, I know all that. Was I not supposed to?"

"I thought you didn't." Kai shook his head. "I mean, I was . . . before Chen's Island, you found me in an _underground fighting ring_. The toughest, dirtiest characters in all of Ninjago. Pretty much every kind of illegal activity you could think of going on behind the scenes. And you were nagging me about the _sugar in juice_. Juice! You just seemed . . . " He trailed off.

"Like a naive idiot?" said Lloyd, grinning faintly.

"Like a ten-year-old," amended Kai. "Just . . . it was kind of annoying, actually. For some reason."

"I didn't think to bring it up," said Lloyd. "Yeah, I figured they probably had some kind of trafficking ring going on down there, but you've experienced what that stuff can do to you. I was pretty sure you wouldn't be taking it."

He got no reply. Puzzled, he glanced down.

"You weren't taking it, were you?"

"Naw, come on," said Kai, but Lloyd saw that his shoulders were tense. He bit his lip and turned back to hunting pinecones so Kai wouldn't feel like his eyes were searching him.

"You're kind of jumpy," he remarked.

"Never took it," said Kai tightly.

"Got pressured to, a lot?" asked Lloyd gently.

A long silence.

"Trafficked it," whispered Kai. Lloyd's head snapped around.

"Kai!" For a second he thought it must be some kind of dark joke and Kai would laugh at him for jumping, but the fire ninja's head was down, his eyes hard. Lloyd sat down slowly, his stomach flip-flopping. All the progress they seemed to have made came crashing down again. Kai. The ninja he'd always looked up to the most when he was little. The one who'd saved his life, taught him so many skills, inspired him with his devil-may-care, hotheaded attitude. Sure, he knew Kai'd gotten a little edgier over the years, but . . . a _trafficker_. His brother sold hallucinogens in greasy back rooms.

"Why?" he finally whispered.

"The slither pit wasn't steady pay," gritted Kai. "They paid by the fight, and once I got a reputation, fewer people started coming to challenge me. I had to live on something! Nya and I _both_ did."

"You think Nya would want money you got by ruining others' lives?" growled Lloyd.

"They ruined their own lives!" Kai barked back. "It wasn't my fault they chose to take that stuff, they'd have been taking it with or without me—what does it matter who they buy it from?"

"It's the principle of the thing!" said Lloyd hotly.

"Principle!" Kai spat. "Don't give me principle when you weren't the one wondering where your next meal was coming from! That was always you, judging everyone when you never understood what it was like. You're a _great_ one for judging, considering the stuff _you've_ tried to pull!"

Lloyd set his teeth. Snatching up the nearly-full sack of pinecones, he slung it over his shoulder and started to climb down the tree. Kai flinched, evidently regretting the outburst.

"And besides, I was only a middleman. I didn't actually sell the stuff, just held onto it for the main dealers sometimes," he added, his voice an odd mixture of sullenness and shame.

Lloyd merely dropped down another branch, expression set.

"And it was only once or twice!" Kai snapped after him. "I don't plan to do it again, either!"

Still no answer. All at once Kai leaped down till he was level with Lloyd and grabbed his wrist.

"Don't tell the others. Especially not Nya. Don't tell her." He swallowed. "Please."

Lloyd winced; he'd never have believed Kai capable of pleading. But then, the Kai he'd once known never had any reason to plead.

Letting out a sharp breath, he yanked his wrist away.

"Maybe she'd like to know," he said coldly, and leaped down a dangerous distance to the next branch. Kai blinked after him for a moment, then abruptly slithered down to his level, landed atop another branch, and hurled a stream of fire across at the green ninja. Lloyd threw himself out of the way and nearly fell headlong; at the last second he snatched at twigs, his sack of pinecones plummeting down to the forest floor as his body swung hard. For a moment he scrabbled—Kai's eyes grew wide in shock and he reached out to catch him—then the twigs snapped and Lloyd crashed a good forty feet to the ground. He landed hard and didn't move.

"Lloyd!" Kai hurled himself down from the tree hardly any slower than his friend had fallen. Pine needles flew from around his feet as he landed and skidded to Lloyd's side. The green ninja was already slowly sitting up, his eyes closed in pain.

"Are you all right?"

Lloyd said nothing, slowly rolling first one shoulder, then the other. He felt at his neck, his head, flexed his spine, and found no notable damage, but still he didn't look up. Kai wavered.

"Look," he sighed at last. "I'm sorry, okay? I—didn't realize we were still that high up, and I just . . . Nya wouldn't . . . " He shook his head. "I wasn't aiming at you, if that's what you're thinking."

"Good to know," said Lloyd softly, finally meeting his eyes. Kai shrugged and stopped talking.

A few minutes of silence. There was nothing left to say. At last Kai sighed, laid a hand on Lloyd's shoulder for the briefest instant, and walked away. Lloyd stayed put, head down. He didn't know what to think anymore.

At last he got up and began to climb the tree again. Kai's sack of pinecones was still up there.

* * *

 **A/N: Well dang. So it _is_ possible to have a heavy conversation without Cole inadvertently overhearing it!**

 **. . . You never know. He might have been tied up in a tree somewhere around or something.**

 **At any rate. If you're still hanging around, one more chapter of this nonsense! And then we will return you to your regularly scheduled dragon.**


	8. Heaven Help the Innocent

**Woohoo, then! Glad you guys weren't too thrown in for a loop with that last one. You're a daring bunch, y'know that?**

 **Guest reviews! Yay!**

 **Anonymous: YESH. Yesh indeed I am. ^_^ I can't guarantee it's going to come to a satisfactory conclusion, but it will definitely be addressed some more. Glad you're enjoying it so far!**

 **GUEST05: Exams?! Argh. I feel ya. T_T Good luck then! Knock 'em out of the park.**

 **Nonononono, I completely don't mind the rambling! I love hearing people's theories and opinions on stuff. Too bad you don't have an account, though, then we could ramble at each other all we wanted. ^_^''**

 **Anyways! Heh, yeah, that was kind of how I came around to Cole too. And yeah, he's definitely got that awkward streak! I could see it being his dad; either way it kind of works for an "earth" kind of personality. He's very comfortable with actions (out of the guys he was the only one to hug Zane when they found him again), but he's not a man of fancy words.**

 **Man, glad you liked the last chapter. Particularly the writing. That thing was altered or completely rewritten SO MANY TIMES; I like reading heart-to-hearts as much as the next person, but boy, do I suck at writing them. XP**

* * *

 _We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like? -Jean Cocteau_

* * *

Once he'd dumped the pinecones into the storage room, Lloyd went to see about getting the pine sap off his hands—his palms were so sticky he could barely use a doorknob. To his frustration, sap did not respond well to soap and water. He tried rubbing alcohol, which stung sharply; there were deep scrapes in his hands where he'd tried to snatch that branch.

Sighing, he set down the bottle of rubbing alcohol and leaned on his arms, watching his sticky palms squish against the cold rim of the sink. His thoughts fizzed back and forth, too fast for him to catch hold of one and get a good look. Kai hadn't seriously intended to hurt him. Somehow he felt sure of that—the fire ninja was notoriously impulsive when under pressure.

But that impulsivity had usually entailed throwing a punch a little too hastily, or snapping at someone with something he'd later regret. In the case of enemies, lunging at someone with a bare blade he tried to avoid actually using on the living. Immediate firebomb? Never before. It wasn't that Kai himself had become more touchy, just that his responses had become more dangerous. What in the world had they done to him at that slither pit? What kind of brawls went on in there, that deadly force became a reflex instead of a last resort?

And now that he had developed that kind of reflex, was it going to go away?

Lloyd shook his head and finished rinsing down his hands with the rubbing alcohol. Maybe he'd sorted the situation out enough in his head that he could handle a reasonable talk now. Maybe.

Wandering into the kitchen, he found Kai perched on a stool next to the little spit of countertop that jutted out into the room. An array of bottles and glasses was set up before him, and he himself was slouching over a glass of fizzy dark liquid.

Lloyd wavered for a second, still torn. At last he took a deep breath, stepped over, and climbed onto another stool next to him. Kai glanced up, then wordlessly pulled over another glass and began pouring the contents of various bottles into it. Lloyd watched the procedure: lemon-lime soda, a heavy dash of mint extract, a drop of _Tabasco sauce_ , of all things, and finally a slug of cream. After swirling the glass around to mix, Kai slid it down the counter. Lloyd caught it deftly enough that it didn't slop too much and took a sip.

"Pretty good," he said. The silence hung heavy after that.

"Would you have drunk it if you didn't see me fixing it?" asked Kai softly.

"I'm more worried that you even ask that kind of question."

Kai shrugged, lowering his attention back to his own drink.

"They call that mix a 'Greenie'," he ventured, fiddling with the glass. "Short for 'Green Ninja'."

Ohhh . . . a peace offering, then? Inadvertantly Lloyd felt his heart soften, but he kept that to himself.

"Wow," he mumbled. "I didn't know they'd named a drink after me . . . "

"Flattered or insulted?" asked Kai, twisting a corner of his mouth back wryly.

"Neither?" Lloyd lifted the glass and studied it. "Both."

"Usually there'd be a shot of gin in there too, but I figured you'd want to skip that."

"Yeah. Thanks, I would." He looked over at Kai resignedly. "So you got pretty familiar with the slither pit's drink menu?"

"Only from watching the bartenders fixing 'em all the time," said Kai. "Never had any of the alcoholic ones."

"Huh. Really?"

"Yeah. I'd seen people trying the hard stuff for the first time." Kai made a face. " _Not_ the kind of display I'd want for the Red Shogun's street cred."

"But . . . well . . . it's _possible_ to maintain a street cred by drinking just juice?"

"Sure," scoffed Kai. "It's not about what you order. It's all about the way you drink it." He tapped the glass in front of him. "Cherry cola. You swig it with enough attitude, people will believe you're chugging arsenic and barbed wire. They won't bother ya. 'Course, it takes a lot of practice to get the method down right."

Lloyd leaned on one elbow and listened, bittersweetly amused. There Kai went again, playing the master of life, talking down and acting like he was the teacher and Lloyd was still just a little kid. He let him. Kai needed this.

"The important part though, is making _yourself_ believe it," continued Kai knowingly. "That's all in the attitude too. You have to toss it back telling yourself that this is something you're not s'posed to be drinking. If you can do it right, you'll get all the perks of feeling evil without actually landing in jail or wrecking your liver. 'Cos—there's a _line_ , you know." He traced an imaginary line across the counter, and his voice suddenly lost all its bravado. "And . . . the point is to walk that line and not cross it."

Lloyd nodded. They both regarded the invisible line on the counter for a moment, neither of them venturing to ask what happened if you _did_ cross it. If it made any difference _why_ you'd crossed it. If it fixed things if you hurried back over as fast as you could.

At length Kai shook himself from his thoughts and forced a light tone.

"G'wan, try it. Pretend that thing's spiked."

Lloyd eyed the still-bubbling "Greenie."

"I dunno . . . "

" _G'wan_ , already. It's good for your nerves, and you never know when it might come in handy."

Lloyd lifted the glass again, looking uncertain.

"So, how do I do this? Like, just drink it really fast?"

"Up to you." Kai waved a hand graciously. "However you'd drink it if it were spiked."

"Huh." Lloyd considered a moment more, then took a violent swig, tossing back a huge gulp of the tangy drink much too hard. A little too much splashed into his face, and whatever did make it into his mouth went straight down his windpipe and left him spluttering.

"Like that, huh?" said Kai, eyes half-closed.

"Exactly like that," said Lloyd hoarsely, and resumed hocking soda from his throat. Kai shook his head.

"You're pathetic," he said fondly.

"Yeah, well." Lloyd gave a final cough. "I learned from the best."

Kai snorted, and silence fell again. The charade seemed to fall away with it. They'd run out of ways to pretend it was all right.

Seconds ticked by. Kai felt rather than heard Lloyd stifling a sigh next to him. He kept his head down, chewing his lip and trying to pull one coherent line of thought out of the tangled snarl currently occupying his head.

He couldn't help it. Lloyd was a good friend, virtually his little brother, but—honestly?—he still resented him. A lot. Not even because he became the Green Ninja, not because he had all the power and got all the glory, but . . . because he didn't deserve what he got. How in all Ninjago's cursed dimensions did he pass off as the chosen one? He was—he was such an _innocent_. Dammit, Kai'd been lying through his teeth, he really was a naïve idiot. And it wasn't just "kind of annoying." It was _infuriating_.

Kai swallowed, hoping that his tightening grip on his glass went unnoticed. He should have kept his mouth shut in the first place. They'd both been eager to get along again, they'd both opened up to each other a little, and—he resented admitting it even privately, but—he'd been longing to get the secret off his chest. A little understanding would have been nice. But he should have known better than to go looking for it here.

Because sure, Lloyd could pretend to be street-smart just because he knew a few slang terms for Venomari spit. But at base, he was still completely oblivious to the grim realities of life. Like a kindergartener parroting anti-drug commercials, clueless about the grip and pain of addiction, he had a lot of nice-sounding solutions—but they only looked weak and foolish and smug the minute you held them up to reality. He didn't understand.

And the worst part of it was, you couldn't blame it on his being sheltered from life's dirtier tricks. Neither he nor Kai had been. They'd both had their share of hard, hard knocks, yet Kai had become a cool-eyed cynic while Lloyd was still as pure as the proverbial driven snow. _That_ was what was so infuriating. He was just—what even was he? Stupid? Blind? Uncaring? How else could you explain it?

Maybe Lloyd _was_ blind. Maybe that was actually the answer. Maybe you _had_ to be stupid and naïve to be the savior of the world. If you were actually competent—competent and savvy, like Kai—you would become a cynic just as fast as Kai did. You would lose faith in the people you were supposed to protect, become angry at the messed-up world you were trying to fix. You'd resort to desperate measures, become . . . corrupted. Or give up.

The realization didn't exactly come to Kai like a thunderclap, or a wave, or anything that violent. It just sort of settled quietly into his gut. He finally knew why he couldn't be the Green Ninja: he functioned too well in the real world, was too well-versed and comfortable in its ways.

Dammitall, he was overqualified. He almost laughed.

Sneaking another glance at Lloyd, who was poking sadly at the glass where the bubbles stuck, he felt his impatience fading. The kid's naivety was hard to tolerate sometimes, but it was worth it. A world like this needed blind devotion, something Kai couldn't give; his contribution could be keeping his mouth shut so driven-snow here would stay clueless. Talk about your messed-up.

But then again, that was to some degree the path that every older sibling trudged.

"Kai?" said Lloyd all of a sudden.

"Yeah?" Resigned. He tucked his thoughts away for later.

"I'm not telling Nya. I . . . I don't know anymore."

"Ya think," said Kai ironically. "I suppose you're going to encourage me to tell her myself?"

Silence. He'd hit home.

"Nope," he gritted. "Not gonna."

"Okay. Okay." Lloyd sounded resigned too now. Defeated.

"It's the way it works," said Kai, not understanding why he bothered to try softening the blow, but still trying. "Stuff changes. People change. Gotta deal with it."

"But not that much. You haven't changed that much," said Lloyd vehemently, almost desperately. He looked to Kai as if he could make it true just by believing it hard enough. "Only on the outside. You—you haven't changed your principles, the important stuff. You're—" his voice wavered "—still the same Kai, aren't you?"

This kid was the living end. Really, the only options left at this point were to punch him out of his chair or hug him, and Kai was in no frame of mind to make that decision. He settled for both.

"You _are_ pathetic, you know that?" he mumbled as Lloyd processed what had just happened and squeezed him back. "But I guess it suits you."

"Suits you being Kai," Lloyd managed, fervently praying his voice didn't actually come out as unsteady as it sounded. "That hasn't changed, right?"

"I dunno, kid," sighed Kai. He pulled back and scruffed up Lloyd's hair roughly. "I hope so."

Lloyd hesitated, then nodded slightly, sighed, and stepped back. Halfway to the door he turned around.

"Stop calling me 'kid'."

"I lead you by more than two years and at least half a dozen words you're not supposed to know," retorted Kai, not looking up. "I think I have the right to call you 'kid'. _Kid._ "

A roll of the eyes, the faintest twitch of a smile, and Lloyd was gone. Kai stayed hunched over his drink, glum. He felt like he ought to feel better now, but he didn't; he doubted Lloyd did either. Hugs were all well and good—they let someone know you cared, or that you weren't angry—but they didn't fix a thing. When the ache inside was this sharp and persistent, a hug didn't take any of it away. It was just the warmth and weight of someone's arms around you. Nothing more.

Sighing heavily, Kai reached for another bottle of cherry cola. If he slugged back a little more attitude, maybe he could talk himself into being hungover tomorrow.


	9. Man in the Mirror

**Wellllllllll. Now that we're done with that whole ghastly business, on to the next ghastly business! This is the start of the main kernel this whole mess is trying to get at.**

 **I fear it'll be deadly boring. :S There was a sale at the supermarket, you see; microwavable nostalgia-and-cheese. Couldn't say no.**

 **Annnnnnnnnd Episode 45 is already out in Italian, it appears. I haven't seen it, though gosh knows I'm tempted. But dangit, Morro! Not yet, not yet! I can't have you jumping down the kid's throat already, I still need him for the dragon. XP**

 **GUEST05: Argh. I know the feeling. XS**

 **Hmm, do you have the same email now as back then? If so, that and the password (which can be reset) would get you in even if you don't remember your username.**

 **Heh . . . heh heh. I'm actually conducting some informal research of sorts on that, with a friend. It's not done yet, but based on what we've got so far, you're right, Cole is indeed the closest approximation of an octopus. Unless you count Nya, she leads him. XP**

 **Awww, thanks for the kind words. Let's just say Staff-Possessed Kai said a little too much, and I can and will use it against him whenever possible. :P**

* * *

 _I used to dream_

 _I used to glance beyond the stars_

 _Now I don't know where we are_

 _Although I know we've drifted far_

 _-Michael Jackson, "Earth Song." (Ohhh. Well, now we know why Cole loves Michael Jackson. XD)_

* * *

It took them a full week, but at last they got all the ingredients for the mash. The pileated gullymoss did arrive, in a box so pungently scented that the mailman complained for days afterwards. The pink silica they had bargained from Gravis was confiscated by overzealous customs officials, and they had a jolly old time convincing them to let the stuff go. A few other items they went out to get themselves, splitting up into small hunting parties. They wound up in some pretty bizarre places, haggled with some pretty bizarre people, and got themselves into some pretty bizarre situations. Lloyd nearly got hit by a semi, Kai had an audience with the prime minister of Metalonia (which would've been awesome, had he actually known a word of the local tongue), and Jay and Zane briefly wound up in jail. It was Zane's fault.

"I am never letting you translate anything ever again," said Jay bitterly, stacking baskets of seaweed in the storage room. "Next time, just tell me you're running the Nindroid version of Google Translate instead of saying you can actually _speak_ other languages."

"I was not aware there was a difference," said Zane meekly.

"Yeeeeeah, well."

* * *

Finally they double-checked that they had all the ingredients and dug a long trench by the base of the mountain. Skylor had sent them a large vat from the old factory, perfect for their purpose; they balanced it over the trench, built a fire underneath it, and got to work.

First they had to boil the green pinecones for almost a whole day to soften them. Next they had to add some mushrooms, then one-quarter of the seaweed, then a whole host of other ingredients in strange orders. Somebody had to be supervising the cauldron at all times to stir the mix, make sure the water didn't boil off, and maintain the very specific temperature ranges needed at different stages of the recipe. The five ninja and Nya took it in swing shifts, two hours at a time, two shifts a day.

There were way too many difficulties. The mushrooms didn't soften as much as they should have; the water boiled off too fast or too slow; the temperature refused to reach the correct level for the addition of the next ingredient. They all did their best to keep their tempers.

After a long, inconclusive session of debating what to do with the fire (they needed more heat, but were concerned a stronger blaze would burn the mash to the bottom of the vat), Cole finally detached himself from the deliberations and went back to the _Bounty_. They still had to figure out how to pay for the various ingredients they had bought, and their regular budget would have to be tweaked and twisted significantly to fit around that. There were bills and checks and confirmation slips, plus stacks of legal papers they had to fill out because of the pink silica fiasco, plus permissions and thank-you notes and a host of other frittery paperwork.

It wasn't fun. But it needed to be done, and at the moment Cole would take it over fussing about firewood.

Spreading some of the more urgent papers across the mess hall table, he began to work up a list of their expenses. It was difficult to stay focused, though, and pretty soon he had covered his scratch paper with idle doodles and needed more.

He sighed. There would probably be some blank paper . . . _somewhere_ . . . Maybe Nya had some? But he didn't feel like going to the trouble of hunting Nya down. His glance fell instead on the boxes he'd taken from Lou's attic, still piled in the corner of the mess hall. Ah, maybe there'd be some old paper there? He drew quite a lot when he was a kid, maybe his old sketchpads were still in there somewhere.

As he rummaged through the boxes, his thoughts inevitably turned towards home. A pulse of sadness hit him as he thought about his dad; Cole was still pretending not to know anything about Lou's condition, but he knew he couldn't keep that up for long. Soon he would pretend to find out about it—somehow—and then, whether Lou liked it or not, he was going home to look after him. He couldn't leave his dad to stumble around alone in his time of need. Not a chance.

He forced himself not to think about what else that would entail.

At last his search through the boxes turned up a battered-looking old notebook. His eyes widened—he'd forgotten this thing! Sitting back down at the table, he flipped open the cover eagerly and found his own handwriting scrawled across the front page: _Training Logbook._

This old thing! This was where he'd taken notes about the team's progress, wayyyyyyyy way back when they'd first found the _Bounty_. He still remembered starting a brand-new notebook after the original one burned with the mountaintop monastery.

Already smiling, he tried to turn the first few pages. They were sticky, and he had to peel them apart . . . judging by the stains, that was myrtleberry pie filling. Heh. Zane never missed.

 _Starting a new journal!_ read the first line. _Long story. We're spending our first night in our new home, this really fantastic shipwreck in the middle of the desert . . ._

Forgetting all about the paperwork, Cole flipped through the pages, a nostalgic smile inadvertently glued to his face. There were detailed instructions for how to perform katas, and paraphrasings of important things Sensei Wu had told them, and notes about who'd done well or who'd gotten in trouble that day and would have to be spoken to sternly, and—oh! This was the violet-berry soup recipe that Lloyd had wrecked for him! Yep, there it was: _allow to stand for three days, sampling and seasoning regularly . . ._ Ohhhh, he'd been ticked about that one. The little brat.

Reading his notes from just a few years ago felt bizarre. He couldn't remember writing any of this, and sometimes he couldn't believe it really had been him who wrote it. Dang, he'd been such a dork back then! No, scratch that— _slow time training today; Jay's wrist is still sprained from doing cartwheels on the ship's railing_ —no, they'd _all_ been dorks back then. Were these honestly the same people currently wracking their brains over a mystical dragon potion? Had they . . . had they really changed _that_ much?

They had, hadn't they? Settling back, he allowed himself to sink into reminescence. With reminscence inevitably came comparison, and with comparison came worry.

Jay, good grief. He could barely recognize him. Back in the early days, Jay had been a dynamo, a carefree bundle of sparks; the silliest things could made him laugh. Life was one huge game to him—and while his lack of focus got annoying sometimes, it could give him unexpected insight too. Only Jay could be quirky-minded enough to equate skeletons with training equipment, and thanks to that he'd been the first in the team to master Spinjitzu. "Ka-ching!", if Cole recalled his exact words.

Come to think, he couldn't remember the last time he'd heard Jay supplying his own goofy sound effects while battling.

Jay had always been the funny one, hadn't he? The one who'd casually slurp cotton candy instead of paying attention to a life-or-death battle. The one who saw fit to ride his dragon upside-down on his way into the Underworld. The one who thought a stupid echoing cave was the most hilarious thing of the week, who'd still be snickering about it even as he faced off against a posse of murderous snakes. What had happened to change _that_ into someone forced to maintain his sanity by clinging white-knuckled to a hollow mantra of positive thinking? Back in the Factory, they had all half-jokingly adopted it as their battle cry—but "positive thinking" had started out as the only thing between lightning ninja and nervous breakdown. He no longer laughed; he readily panicked.

Not to mention he'd been especially down ever since that three AM talk with Kai. He no longer made his usual smart-alecky comments at random intervals, and he didn't even look Nya's way much anymore. Even when he did, he usually looked away again hastily, eyes wistful. Such were the perils of dating someone you couldn't get away from.

Then there was Kai. Kai got _scary_. He had always been a hothead, sure—impatient, reckless, stubborn, an ego about the size of New Ninjago City—and yet there was a very winning earnestness in the way he pulled it off. A kind of frank passion that made you realize (even as you wanted to knock him into next week) that you couldn't really be angry with him. Besides, he'd really matured over his first year. Without at all quelling that burning spirit, he'd learned to temper it for the sake of others; to hear the voices of reason and responsibility as well as the screech of his own passion.

But lately, Kai had suddenly gone all over the place. On one hand, he seemed to have matured even more, gaining a new wisdom. Heck, he'd practically taken Sensei Wu's place as moral backbone of the team during the whole Tech Wu fiasco. But on the other hand, at random intervals he would suddenly seem _insane_. Cole dared not dwell too long on the memory of that explosion-laden car chase after Pythor and the Nindroids and a truck full of rocket fuel, because frankly it scared him too much to think about.

Reckless, sure. Kai had been reckless before, even selfishly so. Ditch the team to sail into a camp full of skeletons, and it please ye! But back then, Kai had been desperate to save his sister. He'd also been much younger and hadn't yet accepted the value of being in a team.

But that car chase. That had been pure, pointless, senseless daredevilism. He hadn't been desperate to save a life; he had been _bored_. And for that, he had risked his own life and the fate of the entire mission—by extension, the fate of Ninjago. All because he wanted a thrill.

Back in the corner of his mind that wasn't actually supposed to have any say in the matter, Cole had wondered fleetingly if Kai was suicidal. And-or having a psychopathic episode.

But then, maybe it was just growing pains. Teenagers were supposed to have those, right? Maybe Kai was just trapped in that awkward stage between full adulthood and reckless boyhood, frustrated until he just had to push the limits of sanity. Or maybe the months of suits and spelling-books and unruly students at Sensei Wu's academy had left him a little stir-crazy, and he had just gone wild once he got back in action. Cole hoped and prayed that was it. Either way he reckoned that blossoming relationship between him and Skylor would bring him back down to earth.

But he still couldn't shake the lingering unease. Even now, there was something different about Kai. Something gritty in his tone, something edgy in his walk, something hard about the light in his eyes. Lloyd kept oddly tight-lipped about what Kai had been doing for a living before they gathered for Chen's tournament. And even as it shamed him to even think it, Cole couldn't help but wonder why—after Lloyd and Kai had gone out to get pinecones for the dragon mash—the Green Ninja had returned home limping and silent.

Speaking of, Lloyd himself. Well, if you were going to _talk_ about changes, you could definitely start there. Cole thought back to the bratty little kid in a skeleton-painted hoodie, and to the slightly ( _slightly_ ) less-bratty little kid tripping over the hems of a green ninja suit, and wondered how in the world this Lloyd was the same person. He was still the youngest, and as official baby of the family was usually first in line to get teased or ganged up on—but it also meant he was the one everyone was quickest to stand up for and protect. Cole ventured a small grin; it was readily debatable which side of that coin irked Lloyd more.

Still, he was "one of them" now, not just the youngster somebody was always stuck looking after. He'd even become the glue of the team, almost its leader in a lot of ways. He still had his little fits of immaturity now and then, but overall he was sharp-witted, responsible, and serious. Probably a little _too_ serious, for someone his age.

And that had only gotten more noticeable after losing Garmadon. Lloyd had taken it well—almost unsettlingly calmly, really—but something seemed different. Not only had he lost that contagious smirk that twitched up one side of his face and dared you not to smile back; the signature mixture of snark and sly wit and serious had been toned back till only one of the three remained. And he'd actually started brushing his hair a little, taming the unruly mop he'd usually let it languish in . . . It was almost like he was trying to get rid of everything that related him to his father. If that was his way of moving on, it didn't strike Cole as the healthiest way to do it. But how to even bring something like that up? "Hey, bro, we need to talk about how you're handling cursing your own dad to an eternity in a hellish alternate dimension"?

Yeesh.

Somebody had to get through to the kid, had to break down that shell of cool maturity he was trying to build around himself. But heaven only knew how to do that. Cole wished heaven would stop being coy already and give him a clue.

And of course, Zane. It was ridiculous, but—after being destroyed and built into a completely new body, with only fragmented memories of his past self—Zane was the one who had changed the least. At core, he was still his sweet-natured, slightly bewildered self.

That wasn't to say he hadn't changed at all, of course. He looked different, functioned different, to some degree thought different. During the first few days of his return he would often zone out, glowing blue eyes going dim, and talk to PIXAL silently inside his head—but he seemed to do that less and less often lately, and Cole wondered why. He also seemed much less close with his falcon, all of a sudden.

And his memories. So, so many of them were missing. At first, every time he discovered another thing he was supposed to remember but didn't, there would be a flash of grief in his eyes that no amount of effort could conceal. With time, as it happened again and again, the grief faded away, to be replaced by a dull resignation that was just as painful for the others to watch. The one bright spark in the situation was, a lot of his memories seemed to be more buried than actually lost. A little prodding, a little hint or reminder, and suddenly a bolt of recognition would cross his face and he'd remember. That was good.

Who was he kidding; it was just good to have their friend back. They could help him retrieve or rebuild his memories, or just make new ones. Just so long as he was here.

 _Well, that's all well and good_ , piped the resident voice in Cole's head. _A nice batch of psychoanalysis. But what about_ you, _wise guy?_

He flinched. Not very fair, sitting here assessing the others as if he didn't have any flaws of his own. He'd changed too, after all. But he didn't want to think about it . . .

 _Oh, no_ , insisted the voice sternly. _Now you. Siddown and take a look at yourself. Team leader needs to hold himself to high standards, eh?_

Cole gulped. This was going to be painful.

But to be honest with himself, then. He hadn't been doing the best of jobs with those "high standards," had he? The lumberjack job had made him small-minded, preoccupied with the nitty-gritty petty bits of life. Nobody expected honor from a musclebound axe-whacker, just sweat and so-and-so many cords of wood a day. Meet your quota, go home, sprawl in front of the TV with junk food. Repeat daily. It was an okay life for some people, but . . . he'd been brought up otherwise. He'd been trained to exercise self-control, to have discipline and self-respect. How had he thrown all of that away so easily?

He'd really let himself go . . . A wave of shame overtook him as he thought back to the Tournament. He'd gotten in the way more than he'd helped, slacked off instead of pushing them all to do better, made stick-in-the-mud protests instead of encouraging the others to think big and have hope. And his fight with Jay—he couldn't even blame the lumberjack job for the sheer immaturity and selfishness he'd shown there.

Sure, the team didn't need a leader anymore. They probably wouldn't _tolerate_ a leader anymore. But that was no excuse—he'd let them all down. Again and again.

Sighing, Cole laid his forehead on his folded arms for a moment, then rested his cheek on one forearm and sighted along the tabletop listlessly. He caught sight of his reflection in the silvery coffeepot, frowned, and jabbed it between the eyes.

"You suck," he informed it. Then, after a moment, "And you're going to do something about that."

Briefly he wondered how he would explain himself if someone came in and caught him berating the coffeepot, but he shrugged that away. He'd just grin and tell them he'd gone cuckoo. Much easier to explain.


	10. What Doesn't Fly

**Just wanted to say an extra thank you for all the very sweet reviews so far! Especially the last batch; I had expected people to be bored to death by that last chapter, so the positive response to it really knocked me off my feet.**

 **Yowza, though. The first Kai and Lloyd chapter underwent a thousand and one rewrites, and this one underwent another two thousand. You'd think they were paying me by the edit. :P Still not fully happy with it by any means . . .**

 **GUEST05: Four episodes! I didn't even know they went past three. Well though, that's disheartening news. If they're going to mess around with the characterization even more, we might just have to give everyone new names and rename the series too. :P And yeah, a season focusing on a different ninja would be cool . . . I think I saw teaser art somewhere that showed both Kai and Cole spinning at each other, but I dunno if it means anything deeper.**

 **Not least because it was probably the first time in history that the "getting possessed by powerful evil object you're trying to destroy" scene from _Lord of the Rings_ was combined with the "change expressions as you pass your hand over your face" scene from _I Love Lucy_. XD**

 **Gracious, sir/madam, you flatter me. Glad you liked it! Heh; trying to watch Season 1 directly after Season 4 does odd things to a person.**

 **Ohhhhh, I think I remember that chapter book . . . T** **hat quote tho! Dang, how things have changed. He went from _that_ to the guy who ignores a strategy session because he's more concerned about chocolate and whose bed is softer. -_(\**

 **I like that idea, though! Maybe he felt he'd failed them one time too many and stepped down or something. Argh, I miss the old leader Cole tooooooooo . . . y'know the funny thing, though? Most of the time he didn't even act like he was in charge. He was keeping the team together and calling the shots, but he didn't really give orders that much and he was always just one of the guys. Sensei Wu knew what he was doing; I doubt those hooligans would've listened to any other kind of leader.**

* * *

 _Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing. -William S. Burroughs_

* * *

About half an hour later, when Cole was once again buried in mathematics, Jay's head popped in through the door.

"It's finally reaching the right temperature," he announced. "Kai's watching it now, you're on next."

Cole again had to catch himself at the last second before snapping at him. _Cripes_ , what a reflex.

"Great, thanks for letting me know," he salvaged, putting down the pencil. Jay looked at him oddly.

"You keep doing that."

"Keep doing what?"

"That thing with . . . " Jay trailed off and waved dismissively, and they both let it drop. Cole went back to his calculations, and Jay wandered off. From down the hall came the rattling of metal and the grind-clickclickclick grind-clickclickclick of a socket wrench. It was a common enough noise when one of Jay's inventions was in-progress. After a few minutes, though, it was replaced by a high-pitched whining, whirring sound, then several thuds and a cry of frustration from Jay.

Seconds later something came shooting through the door and very narrowly missed Cole's head. Whirling around, he blinked at the helicopter-like device that had nearly run him over. It appeared to be made of a lunch tray with a hole drilled in the center, with a motor fastened underneath and a propellor sticking out of the top. The propellor was spinning madly, but the tray itself was spinning in the opposite direction, and the whole contraption ricocheted wildly back and forth, skittering across the floor, lurching erratically into the air, and bouncing off the walls.

Cole stared at it silently. Then he transferred his attention to Jay, who came storming through the door and (with some difficulty) chased the machine down and shut it off.

"Always _something!_ " he groaned, and began fiddling with the propellor.

"Not going so well, huh?" said Cole, unsure if he should be amused or dismayed. They were going to be in some trouble if Jay didn't get this thing working . . . Gravis had been able to call in some favors to get them that batch of pink silica for the dragon mash, and in exchange he had asked Jay to build him a floating table. Apparently the Master of Gravity was most comfortable relaxing in midair, which meant he never had anywhere convenient to put down a drink or a book or anything else. Jay had sworn up and down that he could deliver, but now the situation was looking rather hokey.

"I only need to adjust the airflow on this thing," scoffed Jay, as if sensing Cole's doubt. "Like on model airplanes, you know? Adjust the flaps so they balance. Then the tray won't spin anymore."

He flicked the switch, and the tray whirled off across the room, plowed through a stack of Cole's boxes, and cleared the table in one fell swoop. Then it crashed into a wall and died.

"Jay!" Cole snatched his papers off the table before the spilling coffeepot could flood them.

"Uh . . . sorry." Jay shook himself from gazing morosely after his rebellious creation. "I'll get the boxes."

Cole sighed and fetched a rag to mop up the coffee. When he got back, Jay had already put most of the scattered comics and knick-knacks away and was now rummaging through the boxes, quite oblivious to Cole watching him. The earth ninja quirked an eyebrow. So, the nature vs. nurture debate raged on: was there an actual "compulsion to look at old junk" gene, or did it just come from being raised in a junkyard?

"You mind?" he said at last. Jay jumped.

"Oh, uh—sorry." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, still eyeing the nearest unopened box. "You've got some pretty cool stuff here. What do you plan to do with it?"

"I dunno, have a yard sale?" Cole shrugged, setting up his paperwork again. "Or sell it online. You think any of those comic books might be collector's items yet?"

"Eh, they're only about a decade old, right? Probably not," shrugged Jay.

"Hm."

Then the topic ran out. Jay studied the corners of the room as if a teleprompter might be hidden somewhere about, then shrugged, turned back to the boxes, and started looking through a new one. Cole tilted his head, wondering if Jay usually rummaged through other people's stuff with this kind of nonchalance.

It was weird, though. The entire conversation felt awkward. Hard to believe; years of being best friends, grating on each others' nerves, saving each others' butts, sharing battle plans and sparring sessions and commiseration over the morning training grind—and now they were as shy and lost for conversation topics as two strangers. Boy, they had their work cut out for them.

Meanwhile Jay suddenly made a surprised noise and pulled something brown and fuzzy out of one of the boxes. Oh, no. Why'd he _have_ to dig up the teddy bear? Cole bent over his notebook hastily, feeling his face grow hot.

"What the—" Jay surveyed the worn stuffed animal for a moment, then looked to Cole with disbelief. "Is this yours?"

"Yeah, it was," said Cole, forcing a bland tone. The trick was to play it cool, act like it was no big deal. Letting his embarrassment show would only encourage the teasing he was about to endure.

"For real?" Jay looked at the bear again. "I had one just like this!"

Now Cole's head snapped up.

"What?"

" _Exactly_ like this," said Jay amazedly. "Even had the exact same tear right here. Did you drag it around by the leg all the time?"

"Y . . . yeah," said Cole, still hesitant. Jay either didn't notice or didn't care; he was tracing over the torn fabric with a nostalgic look on his face.

"I remember, in the end Ma just gave up on sewing him back together, because I wouldn't stop dragging him around. He was a pretty great bear."

Couldn't argue with that, thought Cole. This battered stuffed animal had trailed down hallways behind its young owner for years, and had spent several more in a cherished place right by the bed. A certain seven-year-old had spent a night sobbing into its furry stomach after a spectacularly failed Triple Tiger Sashay. He felt oddly defensive, all of a sudden, about having someone else fiddling with this piece of his childhood. As if the bear would suddenly open its unraveling stitched-on mouth and spill all his secrets.

Meanwhile Jay was scrutinizing the bear's ears and eyes, brow crinkled.

"You're _sure_ this is your bear?"

"It's mine."

"Huh." Abruptly Jay pulled the plushie close, rubbing his cheek experimentally against the side of its head. Cole stared, caught off-guard.

"Nope," announced Jay, putting the bear down with an air of scientific finality. "You're right. Mine had all the fur worn away there."

Cole suddenly found himself laughing. Jay looked up, startled, then reddened in realization and scoffed.

"What, and you have a better idea for checking ownership?"

"Taking my word for it wouldn't be enough?" asked Cole amusedly. Some part of him felt a little guilty for giving Jay a hard time when he'd been dreading the same thing himself, but he couldn't resist. Something about it felt familiar.

"For all I know you crawled in through the window and stole mine," deadpanned Jay.

" _What?_ " Cole started to laugh again.

"Well you seem like the type." There was a hesitant smile dancing in Jay's eyes too.

"Oh, I see how it is," said Cole, rolling his eyes. "That's great. When in doubt, Cole stole it."

He was joking, but the smile in Jay's eyes abruptly died. Shrugging, the lightning ninja stuffed the bear back into the box it had come from and got up.

"Hey," began Cole, watching bewildered as Jay went to gather up the scattered bits of his invention. "What did I—"

"Nothin', nothin'," said Jay dismissively. He chased down the last loose bolt and paused in the doorway, shifting from foot to foot. "I—" He shook his head. "I'd better get back to work."

Cole blinked after him. What went wrong there? For a second they had been joking around just like the old days, and Jay'd abruptly sobered up after he said—

—Ohhhhh. Oh. Whoops.

Honestly, this had to stop.

Cole went back to his arithmetic, stewing. The whine of planing metal—Jay cutting a new propellor, no doubt—kept breaking his concentration, and at last he gave up and went to train instead. But all the while, somehow he couldn't lure his thoughts away from helicopters. They were spinny on top and stable underneath, not like that table. Huh. Hadn't he read something about . . .

Abruptly Cole went back to the mess hall and approached the boxes in the corner. For a moment he rummaged; then, finding what he was looking for, he headed down the hall.

"Hey, Zaptrap," he said, poking his head into the workroom. "Think fast."

Jay looked up, then jumped and threw up a hand just in time to catch the book Cole frisbeed at his head. Casting the earth ninja a disgruntled look, he turned it over to read the cover.

" _The Way Things Work_?"

"I think it had a section on helicopters," said Cole, leaning against the doorframe. Jay looked insulted.

"Ah, come on! I know how things work; I learned by taking them apart. I don't need some kiddie book telling me the basics."

"It's not a kiddie book," said Cole. "It was from my Uncle Fred, and believe me, he had _no_ clue what a kid would care about reading."

Jay rolled his eyes and resumed searching for a drill bit.

"Just read it, okay?" said Cole wearily.

"I will, I will. When I have a moment," said Jay, his tone hovering on the border of "whatever-gets-you-off-my-case." He was still stubbornly engrossed in his search for that drill bit; even pointedly so. Cole continued to lean against the doorframe, chewing the inside of one cheek morosely. Words were too darn hard to summon up . . . Funny how the time and place could change things. That one night with the sleeping Ultra Dragon, when he couldn't afford to make his presence known, he'd have given almost anything to tell Jay he was sorry. Now he had all the opportunities to apologize he could ask for, but the Underworld would split open before he'd ever spit the words out. Life played dirty tricks.

"Just read the thing," he said at last, and went back to the training room.

The whine of planing metal continued. Also the thud of crashing inventions, and the progressive weakening of Jay's verbal skills. Even Kai was surprised by some of the terminology the usually clean-spoken inventor knew.

It was seven hours before Jay finally got frustrated enough to peek inside the book. Cole knew it was seven hours because that was roughly how long it took before Jay came stomping into the bunkroom, thwacked the book down on Cole's bed, cast its owner a look that was one part gratitude and four parts sheer fury, and turned to storm out.

"Did it help?" asked Cole innocently. Jay stopped in the doorway, turned around, and seemingly cycled through several things he'd be interested in saying. Then he said none of them.

"You keep doing that," grinned Cole at last, breaking the silence.

"Keep doing what?"

"That thing with . . . " Cole twirled one hand. A flash of confusion crossed Jay's face, then just as quickly a hesitant understanding. He rocked back on his heels and studied the floor, arms folded; Cole took interest in a wall. For a second they both weighed accusations made, insults traded, amends attempted, all the apologies that would never ever be spoken. Abruptly Jay shrugged, spread his hands with a weak smile at the futility of it all, and turned with a wave over his shoulder. The door clicked shut behind him.

Cole shrugged, resigned. Back to normal, well . . . no. Maybe someday. But whatever this was, for whatever little time they had left, it would do.


	11. Going Up, Growing Up

**Heh. Just out of curiosity . . . anyone know what "Saturniidae" is? There was originally going to be a filler chapter with a big hint about that, but to heck with filler. Let's keep this caravan creaking!**

 **GUEST05: Yeah, things seem to be going pretty well from what I've seen! At least, I'm guessing. Dunno any German. :P I was almost getting a Season 1 vibe in a few places there . . .**

 **Y'know what my theory on Cole is? I think they realized, after _Rebooted_ , that most people were ready to skin Cole alive for the whole triangle fiasco. So then they decided to make him fluff-brained so he'd seem like less of a threat and people would stop hating his guts. That's my theory, and I'm stickin' to it. **

**I'm writing OOC, in other words. And by crakky I defy anyone to stop me! XD**

 **Well, I'm leaving that open for the readers; you can pick and choose what you think they'll do. 'fraid I'm not gonna explicitly resolve it myself, though.**

 **Say, just curious, are you in the UK or Australia? You totally don't have to say if you'd rather not, I was just wondering 'cos you use British spellings. I'm kinda fond of those. ^_^''**

 **Eh . . . heh heh . . . I was afraid someone would notice that. Errrr . . . wellllll . . . yes? . . . Only hinting, that is! Things will happen yet. Unfortunately. :S**

* * *

 _You don't lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case. -Ken Kesey_

* * *

Two days later, the dragon mash was (with any luck) finished. They were all pretty tired of the 24-hour shift cycle stoking the fire, checking the temperature, and stirring the mix, but their efforts seemed to have paid off. The mash cooled into a thick, dark-green slurry scented faintly with sea salt and cherries, which was exactly how the recipe said it was supposed to be.

"So, this is the kind of stuff dragons like, huh?" said Kai a trifle dubiously. Cole cautiously scooped out a dollop of the still-warm mixture and popped it into his mouth. Then he gagged.

"Okay, I— _ptuh_ , yuck—reallllllllly hope dragons have a different sense of taste."

Of course now everyone wanted to try it. They all agreed that it was absolutely vile, but then again—liver-and-toads wasn't exactly the most palatable snack either, to a human.

It was only then that they realized they had no way to get the vat up the mountainside, much less down into the cave. It was heavy, for one thing—they could lift it between all of them, but it was too unwieldy to just carry along on an incline. Besides which, both the mountainside and the tunnel slanted pretty steeply, so tilting the vat enough to carry it on those slopes would cause it to spill. And spilling was _not_ an option.

"Well, now what?" said Kai as they all stood at the base of the mountain, looking up towards the cave entrance. It seemed fantastically far away all of a sudden.

"Could we attach it to the _Bounty_ and air-lift it?" asked Lloyd.

"There's no way the _Bounty_ could maneuver smoothly enough to make that happen," said Nya with conviction. "And then there's still the question of carrying it _inside_ the mountain."

A defeated silence.

"Why didn't this occur to anyone before?" growled Kai.

"Didn't occur to _you_ either," said Cole irritably. Kai gave an angry snort.

For a while they stood about and looked glum. Presumably they were thinking about ways around this issue, or at least thinking that they should be thinking such a thing. Every now and then someone would look up as though an idea had struck him, but always he would sober and shake his head before even saying anything.

Cole leaned back against the cauldron, sighing. First reflex was to give up. Second reflex was to blame this on someone else, complain that this whole thing was ridiculous and a waste of time. Complain about _something_. It's not like he could do anything else, could he?

What would he have done two years ago?

He bit his lip, trying to remember. Optimism came to mind. He'd never really been the one with the answers—it was usually Zane or Jay who had the know-how and figured stuff out—but he'd always been the one barking at the front of the pack, assuring the others that there had to be a way through this. Just telling them they could do it. It had usually been enough . . .

That seemed so stupid now, though. Hollow, insincere. He looked around surreptitiously at the others—Kai brooding, Jay seemingly resigned to failure, Zane sunk in thought but getting nowhere. Lloyd, for once looking around like he wished somebody else had an answer. Nya, staring off into the distance as if her thoughts were elsewhere.

Optimism, on this lot? They'd have his head.

Still. He'd promised he'd try to do better, and even if it didn't help at all, try was what he was gonna do. He wracked his brain for something, anything.

"Okay . . . so what if we got some ten-gallon buckets and carried it up bit by bit?" he ventured.

"That'd take forever!" protested Jay. Zane glanced at the cauldron, then up the mountainside, mentally calculating.

"Approximately thirty-eight hours," he announced. "Assuming we worked non-stop."

Groans all around.

"Well . . . well, come on. There's got to be a way. We can't let something this stupid stop us!" protested Cole.

"Can't we, though?" asked Kai bitterly.

"We don't have a choice. We have to think of _something_." Cole kicked at a pebble, in his irritation sending tiny ripples of earth rolling in its wake.

"Wait—what about that?!" said Nya all of a sudden. "Cole, your earth!"

"What about it?"

"You can pull columns of rock out of the ground, right? What if you made a kind of platform of rock and moved the cauldron along with that? Like an escalator."

"Sorry, but I can't pull up columns that smoothly," said Cole, shrugging in regret. "They sort've come up shaking, and the tops are usually all jagged. I could maybe manage it out here on the hillside where the ground is soft, but down in the tunnel it'd basically be yanking up chunks of solid rock and shaking them."

"But a platform could work," said Zane slowly. "What if . . . "

Within half a minute everyone was talking at once, and chances were there was even some listening going on somewhere in there. Eventually they sorted the mayhem out into a coherent plan: Zane created a wedge of ice that would keep the vat level on the slope, and gradually generated a pathway of ice to slide it on. Kai kept a steady tongue of flame licking along the top edge of the ice wedge, melting it just enough to keep the surfaces slippery. The others pulled at the whole construct with ropes, letting the wedge freeze to the path whenever they needed a break. Although complicated and a bit nerve-wracking, it was actually a surprisingly effective process.

"Well, we're halfway out of the woods!" said Cole encouragingly, as they paused at the mouth of the tunnel. Zane was carefully restructuring the ice block to accomodate the reversed slope.

"Only now, we're gonna have to be more careful about the ice path," said Lloyd. "It wasn't a problem going up, when we were pulling from the front, but now we're gonna be pulling from behind to slow this thing down. If Kai doesn't melt the ice fast enough, we're going to slip."

"You say that as if it's even a possibility," grunted Kai, cracking his knuckles.

However, they'd barely made it three steps into the tunnel before they realized there would be other issues.

"Jay, pull back!" called Nya, coughing. Kai's flames were burning double-time, since he now had to melt the ice path as well, and the tunnel was thick with smoke. "Your rope's going slack, we're doing all the work!"

"Geez, I'm doing what I can here!" protested Jay. "How'm I supposed to stay level with you guys if I can't see you?"

"Kai, can we get a little light over here?" called Cole hopefully.

"I only _have_ two arms!"

"Woah, easy, geez. We'll manage if we have to. Right guys?"

"We'd manage better if someone had a spare hand for a flashlight . . . " muttered Nya.

"Oh! Wait! I've got an idea!" cried Jay all of a sudden. "Back in a flash!" Without warning he let go of his lead rope and darted back up the tunnel slope; Lloyd gave a yelp of dismay as the full weight of the cauldron's right side started to pull him forwards. Kai abandoned his melting efforts and stepped over to take Jay's place.

Jay was gone for a little longer than a "flash." The others' grumbling was just starting to build up a proper head of steam when the patter of running footsteps sounded from above. A strange whining sound accompanied it, and soon a flickering beam of light danced through the gloom. Then another one joined it.

Finally Jay appeared, grinning like a toothpaste commercial and piloting a bizarre device. It was a square platform with four small rotors attached to the corners, allowing it to hover smoothly at Jay's side. Four flashlights were hastily taped to the underside of it, sending beams of light out in four directions.

"Bonus points!" said Jay brightly. "The propellors will help to clear the smoke out of here."

"Well that's great, but we _kinda_ need your hands free to hang onto this rope!" retorted Kai.

"Keep your hair on," Jay scoffed. He tucked the flying table's remote into his belt and resumed his place on the rope team. "I designed this thing to automatically maintain a constant distance from the remote, so it'll follow us down without me piloting it. It's also equipped with a rapid-pulse sonar system that allows it to avoid walls and obstacles, as well as tell it when it's sinking towards the floor. It can compensate for the weight of whatever you put on top of it!"

"Gotta admit, that's pretty neat," said Lloyd admiringly, squinting through a flashlight beam to get a better look at the invention. Cole leaned over to Jay as they resumed moving slowly down the tunnel.

"You can make it do all _that,_ " he whispered, "but you can't remember that helicopters need a second rotor to balance the first?"

"Shut up." Jay cast him a look of mixed chagrin and amusement. "I'm a man of lofty engineering; I don't get bogged down in the details."

* * *

Finally they made it to the bottom of the tunnel. They were all worn-out and rather irritable by then; they were more used to quick, intense action than to slow and precarious processes. Once the wedge gently bumped to a halt at the base of the tunnel, Kai let out a long, frustrated breath and without warning winged a punch at Jay's head.

"What was that for?" demanded Jay, ducking.

"You were closest," muttered Kai, then dodged Jay's return swipe and turned back to the ice wedge, melting it carefully from below to lower the vat to the floor. Then they all dragged the cauldron the last few meters into the cave, and Cole whistled to catch the Ultra Dragon's attention. Jay's invention, rotors still whirling, blew the thick salty-cherry smell around the cavern.

The dragon's four heads seemed to perk up all at once. Shard's neck was the first to snake over, sniffing heavily and tilting in scrutiny. Without warning the former ice dragon plunged its muzzle deep into the cauldron and began to gulp down the mash like there was no tomorrow, and before anyone could even react the other heads were doing the same. The cave rang with cheers.

"Dragons have a seriously weird sense of taste," said Jay amusedly, backing away to a distance at which inadvertantly losing a limb was less likely.

It was a while before the snarfing and eager slobbery sounds gave way to the calmer _shllllp, shllllllllllp_ of the cauldron being licked. The Ultra Dragon finally began to notice the attention it was getting again. Flame developed the hiccups, to the other heads' dismay and the ninjas' amusement.

"Twenty-four hours and you'll be good as new, buddy," smiled Jay, scratching Wisp's forehead as the dragon sniffed eagerly for any leftover traces of its meal. "Keep taking it easy till then, okay?"

Flame hiccuped again, spewing sparks from his nostrils.

"You see, this is what happens when you eat too fast," scolded Kai, grinning. "You've been hanging around Rocky too long!"

Seconds later he was sprawled back on his hands and covered in dust, courtesy of a highly offended Rocky. The others tried not to laugh too hard.

Cole shook his head and chuckled, scratching Rocky underneath the chin as a still-hiccuping Flame attempted to lick his former owner consolingly. All the hassle and snappishness while getting the mash ready, to say the least of getting it into the cave, was forgotten for the moment. The old team feeling, though—that mushy warmth inside he'd sometimes get when they were together and happy—that was still missing. He didn't know if it was just him, or all of them.

But he didn't think too much about it. All he could really register was the relief plunging through him. It had all been worth it, every last minute of it. Tomorrow, for the first time in a year, the Ultra Dragon would fly again.

* * *

Leaving the dragon to continue its healing process, they headed back to the _Bounty_ , where Zane, ever tireless, had whipped up a satisfying dinner. A few dishes seemed . . . off, here and there, but he was clearly regaining his old skills at a crackling pace. When they'd first returned from Chen's Island he hadn't even remembered how to make instant rice.

The table was pretty quiet, aside from the clinking of dishes and utensils. Everyone looked much calmer and more contented than before, but the occasional ripples of conversation just never took off. Maybe they were all just tired; either way it somehow clashed curiously with the nostalgia of eating in the Bounty's little mess hall, where they'd shared so many meals in the past.

Cole searched for a conversation starter and was puzzled to find none. He was exhausted too, after all, and the giddy relief of their success had worn away into a pleasant but drowsy apathy.

There was a mixed-berry pie for dessert; pulling it closer to grab a piece, he was suddenly struck by the impulse to scoop the whole thing up and wing it across the table at Kai. There'd been a day when he wouldn't have thought twice before going through with it, and five seconds later they'd all be embroiled in a food fight. Now, though, he found himself calculating. First Kai would yelp and be ticked off; the others would jump and—Cole ran an extrapolation—probably just grin. Possibly resignedly. A grumpy Kai would chuck the half-empty pie tin back at Cole and roll his eyes, the others would exchange hesitant glances, each waiting for someone else to follow up . . . and maybe nobody would.

Annnnnnnnd that would just be _incredibly_ awkward. Cole cringed at the mere thought of it and hastily just took a slice of pie. Suddenly the very idea seemed stupid, and he wondered how in the world they had gotten into so many food fights back when they were younger. What was different now?

 _They_ were, he realized. They were getting smarter, more mature. Back in the old days they'd all acted on the first impulse that struck them and plunged headlong into anything that looked like fun, but now they calculated the consequences of every action, even the most trivial.

Come to think, that explained just about everything he'd been fretting about the other day, too. That was why they had all changed so much; life was whipping them into shape. They had started as a band of reckless, idealistic, high-spirited youngsters who believed being a hero was like in the movies, but experience had taken them and ground them down. Had taught them that no victory came without a price. Taught them caution, cynicism, respect for danger. Whittled them into serious fighters.

Suddenly it all seemed so childish, the old days. The wisecracks and pranks, the competition, the griping about training, the inconsequential fights that usually worked themselves out with a pillow war when they thought Sensei Wu was sleeping. All the fun they had shared. The time for fun was over forever. They were grown-ups now.

That was a good thing, he realized. And yet some selfish part of him still howled in dismay.


	12. The Payoff Phase

**This one's the other reason this thing is T-rated, folks.**

 **GUEST05: Thanks for the review! Yeah, can't say that LEGO took the best way out. Maybe they thought trying to develop Cole in some other way would take too much time from the action, or wouldn't convince enough people? I dunno.**

 **Nah, I knew what you meant (and thanks!), I was just joking. ^_^'' I kind of cheerfully resigned myself to being OOC the minute I started writing this story anyway, since I was neither able nor willing to write Season-4 Cole. :P**

 **Oh wow, cool! You're _really_ good, I would never have guessed. :)**

* * *

 _We're bound to wait all night._

 _This is bound to run amuck._

 _Invested enough in it, anyhow—_

 _But to each his own._

 _-Broken Bells, "The High Road"_

* * *

That night was the most peaceful sleep they'd all had in a long time. After only a few hours it was shattered by a deafening, piercing scream, each echo seeming more laden with agony than the last. Everyone bolted awake, eyes wide, breaths shallow. By the time the second scream rang out, they were already tearing to the cave where the Ultra Dragon slept.

Kai was first to scrabble down through the entrance, pebbles spurting from under his bare feet. From the back the others heard him gasp; when they followed him in they could only freeze in mute horror.

The Ultra Dragon lay sprawled on the floor, lathered in sweat and blood. Gashes were torn all along its body, huge swathes of scales missing from all four heads and necks. The crest on Shard's head was bleeding profusely.

Even as the crowd of people recovered from the initial paralysis of shock and began to move closer, the massive scaly body suddenly twitched and began to thrash. Without warning Wisp's head gave a screech, reared from the floor, and twisted to sink its teeth into Rocky's neck, scales and bones crunching under the pressure. Rocky bellowed in fury and pain as the lightning dragon's head rocked from side to side, tugging, twisting, digging jaws deeper. The whole Ultra Dragon's body writhed over onto its back, Shard and Flame's heads hissing and snarling and snatching at the other two, at random body parts, at anything. The fight grew more and more violent, claws and wings flailing, but there was no enemy—the four heads attacked each other and the one body they all shared. The massive tail whipped through the air and crashed down mere meters from where the humans were standing, knocking them from their feet. Jay was shouting something, but most of it was lost through the howls and strangled gurgles of the slowly throttling Rocky. Only one line got through:

"He's _tearing himself apart!_ "

Cole was already scrabbling to his feet, unaware of the bleeding knees and elbows where his pajamas had torn against the floor. Already he was heading for the heaving mass of scaly flesh, evading the hand that tried to snatch him back.

"Stop that! Let him _GO!_ " Seizing a rock, he hurled it with all his might at Wisp's head; without warning the other ninja were at his side, snatching rocks of their own. Wisp yelped under the onslaught and loosened his grip on Rocky's throat, leaving the earth dragon's head choking on each rattling but unobstructed breath.

"Stop it right NOW!" Cole's vocal cords stung as he shouted at all four heads simultaneously. "NOW, you hear me?"

All four heads angled towards him, still snarling, panting, dripping. Cole glared them down, fists clenched at his sides. Slowly the growls mixed in with each breath the dragon drew died away; slowly the glowing eyes softened, the murderous stance loosened. With a trembling sigh, the Ultra Dragon finally lay down, all four heads dropping to the stone floor. Cole let out a shuddering breath of his own, and heard it echoed by the others just behind him.

"Good boy," he said softly. "Good boy."

The Ultra Dragon twitched, all eight eyes rolling in the humans' direction. The creature's heavy breathing did not slow. As it lay there and the ninja began to approach with soothing words, it only breathed more and more raggedly, its ribs heaving with each inhalation. Its wings began to spasm, the rest of its body began to shudder, its breaths grew more and more labored till they were little more than gasps. The realization seemed to hit everyone at once.

The Ultra Dragon was in agony. Not just from its injuries; from within.

Without warning something seemed to snap, and the giant beast threw itself onto its hind legs, its four heads writhing and screaming before tearing into each other once more. The ninjas hurled themselves out of range of the twisting body, knowing the dragon could kill them with one mad blow of a tail or foot. Only Cole stood rooted where he was, staring numbly up at the suffering creature. He couldn't think to move.

A quarter-ton wing cracked against his head. He went sprawling, the world darkening around him. As the dragon's thrashing grew ever wilder, Zane plunged into the maelstrom of scales and dragged away Cole's limp form, shaking him and shouting in his ear. Cole lurched halfway into consciousness and stumbled along as Zane half-held him up, pulling him after the others, towards the exit of the cave. Everything seemed to swim in and out of focus; the one thing he saw clearly for a second was the head that had once been Rocky, staring after him with one eye missing.

"Look out!" screamed Nya as the Ultra Dragon hurled itself against the wall, sending rocks plunging down from the ceiling. "The roof's going to come down!"

None of them even knew what they were doing anymore. They just dragged each other out through the shaking tunnel, burst out into the damp, cold night air, and flew down the hillside, crashing to a halt at the bottom.

The screams continued, echoing up the tunnel behind them. Slowly they all caught their breaths, checked subconsciously if everyone was still there. Cole's head reeled.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," whispered Jay. He sounded like it.

They lay still where they had thrown themselves, waiting. The howling went on and on; the high-pitched screeches of Wisp, the rumbling bellows of Rocky, Shard's hisses and Flame's roars. Cole tried to take it, tried to be strong for the others, but the whole world seemed to be made up of the screams of the Ultra Dragon and the pounding in his head. At last he gave up and clasped his hands over his ears, wishing desperately he could just make everything stop by drowning it out.

After an eternity, the howls tapered off, became groans. Then silence fell. Still no one moved. It wasn't over. They waited.

Then the silence suddenly seemed to become deeper, the air suddenly became colder. A soundless breeze seemed to rush around them, and they knew it was over for good now.

Slowly they got to their feet. Nobody said a word. There were hours left in the night, as if time mocked them for feeling like they'd just lived an eternity. Zane helped Cole up, and somewhere in the blurry murk of his head Cole remembered to squeeze his arm in silent gratitude for saving his life. Still without a word, they went home. Went back to bed. What else was there to do?

Nobody slept. They just lay there, dazed, flashes of blood and ripping scales painted against the backs of their eyelids. About every fifteen seconds there was the sound of a sharp breath being drawn through the darkness; only that. Someone was doing a very good job of muffling his sobs into a pillow. Cole was too dizzy and dead to figure out who.


	13. We Dreamt Our Dream

**Laaaaaaast chapter! (Barring possible epilogue.)**

 **Okay, so apparently I was kinda vague back there (sorry about that), so just to clear up any remaining confusion: The Ultra Dragon is dead. Well and truly. Kicked the bucket. _Przejechał_ _się_** ** _na drugi swiat._**

 **In sum: Cole's dad is going blind, Jaya is possibly done for, Kai's a trafficker, hugs don't work, apologies don't happen, and all their efforts come to dust.**

 **Yeah, I don't know what my problem is either, but I bet it's hard to pronounce. -_(\**

 **Anyway, we're wrapping up, folks! Pop on "We Dreamt Our Dream" (it was meant most of all for the ending), and . . . well, I hesitate to recommend enjoyment, so . . . get whatever you were hoping to get out of this?**

 **Ah well. If you do enjoy it, I'll be happy.**

* * *

 _And we dreamt our dream_

 _Ev'ry night_

 _You'll still be here_

 _At dawn's new light_

 _And you will never leave._

* * *

After the long, long night, imperceptibly the darkness outside the window lightened. A murky gray began to filter through the slits in the blinds, gradually turning chalky white and at last melting into soft smudges of golden sunrise. Now there was only the rise and fall of steady breaths mixed in with the merry staccato of the birds outside. Heartless little creatures.

The rustle of sheets seemed terribly loud as Kai rolled over onto his side.

"So that's where those scars came from."

"Yeah."

". . . There never was a mating season."

"Nope." Cole took a deep breath and let it out, staring up at the ceiling. "There wasn't."

Silence.

"It was our fault," said Jay dully, and Cole guessed by the creak of the mattress that he was sitting up. "The mash just gave him the energy to finish the job."

"But if we hadn't given him the mash, he would have starved to death." Lloyd sat up as well, pushing off his blankets. "Is that much better?"

Another pained silence. At last Cole rolled upright and swung his legs over the side of his bunk, looking around at the room full of tired, guilty faces.

"We couldn't have known, guys. None of us could've known. We tried, but there just wasn't any way to save him."

"The adult forms were not able to exist as one." Zane's metallic voice echoed softly, and Cole grimaced.

"Yeah. They weren't."

* * *

They gathered in the mess hall, quiet. Nya looked drained, and Jay subconsciously sat down next to her, his hand straying towards hers. Old habits died hard. A few of them took cold cereal, but nobody seemed to have much interest in actually eating it. Sensei Wu finally stood up.

"I know it has been a painful night for us all," he said quietly, "but we cannot change what is already done. Our dragon lived a happy life, but the time comes for all living things."

Silent nods of acceptance all around the table. Jaded eyes. There had been a time, once, when they would all have felt a little bolstered, would have taken the words to heart and tried to believe they helped. But they were beyond that now. They respected their Sensei and valued what he was telling them, but they didn't need him to pull them through anymore.

"The Ultra Dragon must be buried," continued Wu, sounding more tired than he had in a very long time. "I am sorry, but it must be done."

Eyes strayed down to the tabletop. It was true; it wasn't safe leaving a carcass of that size uncovered, it would attract animals and quite probably spread disease. Even aside from that, their pet, their loyal rescuer, a creature that proud—it deserved better than being left to rot in a hole. Much better.

There had been a day, thought Cole, when they wouldn't have hesitated. There'd been a day when they'd all have plowed naively off, thinking they could handle the gruesome job painlessly if they just had courage and teamwork. Probably would have wound up getting a nasty wake-up call a little too late. And . . . there had been a day when _he_ would have stood up and volunteered first, driven by some inane idyllic ideas of what a leader was supposed to do. Back when they'd still lived in something other than the nitty-gritty dirty selfish grown-up world.

. . . To the Underworld with it. Cole pushed his cereal bowl away and stood up.

"I don't know if it'd be possible to get him back up the tunnel," he said steadily. "But I'll see if it would work to bring the cave ceiling down."

A moment, then suddenly Lloyd pushed away his own bowl so hard the milk sloshed out and stood up as well, nodding.

"I can help."

"I'll scan so you can bring it down safely," said Zane, standing in turn. "And perhaps the explosive shurikens might work as well? . . . "

"Hey, I'll come too." Kai tossed a small flame from his palm, attempting a dark smirk and only succeeding in looking broken. "If all else fails, there's always cremation."

Jay was last to stand, but he stood.

"Can't do any of that fancy stuff," he ventured, managing a wan smile, "but I've still been dabbling in poetry. I could . . . write the big guy a eulogy, or something?"

He shook his head as if he regretted having said anything, but Cole nodded.

"That'd be great, actually. We can all come."

"Me too," said Nya firmly. Jay and Kai both looked unhappy, but neither argued. Meanwhile Sensei Wu took up his staff, indicating he would come to offer the younger set any support he could.

It should have been a heartwarming moment, Cole supposed. He should be touched that they were still willing to stand together, after everything, still a team.

But all he could be was terrified that this was the last time. Teamwork was just a nice theory to all of them now. They were no more than a ragtag collection of grownups, fed up with the innocence of brotherhood; too independent to coexist for much longer.

Well. For old times' sakes, then. Just once more. Turning briskly, he led the others down from the _Bounty_ 's deck.

They headed up the mountainside in silence, each preparing in his own way. The air was cool and humid, a slimy breeze occasionally wisping down from the sky. Distant peaks loomed soft and gray through a milky haze, collecting a half-hearted canopy of clouds. It would probably rain soon.

Cole snuck a glance back at the others. Lloyd looked queasy. Could hardly blame the kid. Jay and Nya's hands were unconsciously clasped, swinging together, as Jay mouthed something to himself, forehead creased in concentration. He must already be coming up with that eulogy; that was good, Cole thought. He didn't figure Jay'd be thinking much of poetry once they got down into that blood-splattered cave.

They reached the mouth of the tunnel. Some furtive glances were traded, as if each one was trying to reassure himself that he wasn't the only reluctant one. No opposition was offered. They started in. Two steps, and the sick metallic stench of blood washed over them, whispering of flies and decay and wriggling maggots. Would there be maggots already? Cole felt the two spoonfuls of cereal he'd managed to swallow already trying to beat a hasty retreat.

Doggedly he put his head down and kept walking. One foot in front of the other; gradually you acclimated to the smell, even as it got stronger the farther down the tunnel they went. He heard some strides faltering behind him, but none that stopped entirely. Had to give them credit for that. He kept walking because he had to keep leading, but making the choice to keep following must be harder.

The tunnel opened from around them. Swirling eddies of dust caught the cloudlight filtering from the ceiling, turning it to sharply defined pillars of shimmering light. Reluctantly Cole lifted his eyes from the floor and scanned the cave chamber. He took in the burgundy dribbling marks on the wall, the massive chunks of rock scattered across the floor, and tensed for the sight of a lifeless limb or head crushed somewhere beneath it all.

No such thing.

The others slipped in alongside him, looking around with similar trepidation. Gradually they edged farther into the cave, still searching, but the Ultra Dragon was nowhere in sight. There weren't nearly enough fallen rocks to cover a body that massive . . .

They all adjusted to this new information for a bit.

"Do dragons go to the Underworld when they die?" Jay sounded like his own voice scared him.

"I guess they go . . . _somewhere_ ," said Cole.

"I hope it's better than the Underworld," said Kai heavily.

Suddenly Lloyd, who had ventured a little farther into the rubble, gave a sharp breath of surprise.

"Guys, look!" he called. "What is _that?_ "

They all hurried over to see.

"Woah," breathed Jay. "What the . . . "

Hidden in the midst of the rubble, in a rare clear spot, was what looked like a dome of blazing light. About two feet across, it rose from the stone floor like some kind of golden soap bubble.

As they slipped closer, the light softened and resolved, turning into what was undoubtedly sunshine. In the middle of the smooth gray stone of the cave floor, a circle of brilliant green grass sparkled wherever the light covered. Leaves whirled by in an unheard breeze, disappearing eerily the minute they reached the edge of the glowing dome. It was like a half-sunken crystal ball, offering a glimpse of another dimension.

What really caught their attention, though, was the four oblong shapes set into a hollow in the grass. Eggs. Unmistakably.

Silently they gathered around the semi-orb, gazing in. There was one egg with a smooth, cool-blue surface that glittered faintly; ice. Another with a rough, nubbly, leathery brown hide; earth. One with a glinting vinyl texture, swirled with citrine and orange; fire. The last pure white, with searing blue crackles crisscrossing its surface; lightning.

"Dragons," said Jay at last, daring to break the awed silence, "have the _weirdest_ circle of life ever."

"Pear-shaped," said Zane softly.

Kai reached out one hand.

"No, wait—"

 _Pop._

The second Kai's hand met the glowing surface, the portal collapsed, just like a soap bubble. The cave's darkness rushed to take its place, and a gentle puff of air blew into their faces, scented of hay and warm earth. Kai stayed frozen with his hand still in midair, looking sorry. Cole sighed.

"It's okay."

* * *

They headed up the tunnel again. The fresh, leafy smell of rain blew down towards them, soon followed by the gentle sizzle of rainfall. The shuffle of footsteps turned to a soft _splap, splap_ sound as the floor grew wet. At the very top of the tunnel they stopped and looked out through the curtain of rain covering the cave entrance, wondering if they should brave the deluge and the slickery descent. It seemed unlikely that the rain was going to stop anytime soon, so they would probably be getting home soaked one way or another.

And yet, they all settled down inside the cave to wait. At least for a little while. It didn't seem like the kind of moment to follow up on with the chaos and indignity of trying to descend a mud-covered mountainside.

"I'm guessing that's not how dragons usually have their kids, though," said Jay at length.

"If it is, it'd explain why there's so few of 'em," said Kai drily.

"Do you think they'll come back to this dimension when they hatch?" asked Nya. She and Jay had remembered themselves by now and were sitting on opposite ends of the group.

"They could if they wanted to," said Cole, smiling ironically. "They're not from this world in the first place, you know."

"Do you think they'll remember us?"

". . . Maybe? . . . "

Everyone knew that kind of meant "no." But they were okay with that. Life was beginning anew, and breaking with the past was just part of the process.

The conversation tapered off. The sound and smell of the rain coaxed a drowsy peace over the group, and the sleepless night suddenly started catching up to them all. One by one they began to drift off. Nya fell asleep leaning against Zane, whose eyes were open but dim. He was talking to Pixal, and smiling. Kai sat a little distance away from the others with his head flung back against the cave wall, dreaming some grim dream, if his expression was any indication.

"My dad told me about these moths once," said Lloyd out of nowhere. Cole gave him a curious look, wondering why he brought this up now. There was no one else awake. Just the two of them. Youngest and oldest.

"Your dad knew moths?" he asked gently.

"Not personally." Lloyd's attempt at a laugh didn't quite make it. "But no, seriously. There was this moth family he told me about . . . _Saturniidae_ , I think? . . . of course, there was some kind of lesson attached to it, but—heh—I don't remember it now." He rubbed the back of his head, eyes distant, but apparently continued to draw a blank. "I remember the moths, though. They could only eat when they were caterpillars. The actual moth, the adult form—it doesn't have a working mouth. It can't eat. It grows up, it changes, and then in only a little while it dies."

"Ohh . . . " Now Cole understood. "Kinda like the Ultra Dragon?"

"Yeah," Lloyd tossed a pebble through the curtain of rain. "And like us."

Cole said nothing for a moment.

"You feel it too?" he said at last.

"Yeah. It's not gonna work," replied Lloyd softly, looking at another pebble he was turning over in his palm. "The team's not going to hold together much longer."

"You were the one who wanted us to get back together, just a few months ago!" Cole kept his tone light; this was no time or place for accusations. Lloyd chuckled ruefully.

"I know. I . . . That was just me being selfish. It just . . . Everything seemed so wrong without you guys. Without _us._ But I shouldn't have tried to force it."

"Hey, it led to us finding Zane," said Cole. "And you were right, too. Ninjago does need someone to protect it."

"Yeah, it does. But not the way it used to. Not the way _we_ used to. I can't do it alone, but . . . it was stupid of me to think we could just get back together and things would go back to the way they were. I thought we could fix everything if you guys would just stop fighting, if we could just get Zane back, if one thing or another. But all those things were just side effects of the bigger picture I was missing. We're different." He glanced over to Zane, metallic skin gleaming in the gray light. "Stuff changes." Now to Kai. "People change." To Jay and Nya. "Gotta deal with it."

"Deep," remarked Cole idly. Lloyd managed a lopsided smile.

"If I told you where I got it, you'd never believe me."

A pause.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Cole at last.

"We." Such a fluid term. "We" as a single unit, a family working together. "We" as separate individuals, about to drift apart. "We" as you and me, sitting here talking about it like it's not a big deal.

"Nothing," said Lloyd. "Just let things happen how they're meant to, I guess." He rested his chin on his knees, chuckling weakly. "Heck, this kind of stuff happens to everyone; dunno why it has me this far into denial. I need to grow up."

"Hmh." Cole let his eyes drift to the rainwashed world outside. "Don't we all."


	14. Epilogue: What Remains

**Well, okay. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not always a big fan of those "X amount of time later" epilogues that go, "Hey look, forty million big changes happened that I didn't have the good manners to tell you about!" They're kind of a hit and miss affair. So I'm uneasy about doing one myself . . . buuuut I wasn't about to just leave it on a jaded note like that. M** **y problem isn't _that_ hard to pronounce. :P**

 **So this is an optional epilogue. If you were okay with that ending in the last chapter, go right ahead and skip this—or** , **you could pretend that last conversation was just being pessimistic and they didn't really fall apart after all, and then this whole thing would be like a bonus story squished in between Seasons 4 and 5. That would be kinda cool, although considering what goes down in Episode 46 I think the concept of the "Greenie" would make me cry.**

 **Orrrrrrr you could read this epilogue too, which would make the story firmly AU. But if you're okay with that, glad to have ya! Enjoy. :)**

 **Thank you once more to everyone who's reviewed, faved, etc.! You guys've been awesome.**

 **GUEST05: Awh, rats . . . Did I scare you off with the dragon death scene? . . . If that's the case, sorry about that. :S But anyway, I'm gonna miss chatting with you! Thank you once again for all your very sweet and thoughtful reviews.**

* * *

 _Growing apart doesn't change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I'm glad for that. -Ally Condie_

* * *

The radio was blaring. It had been for quite a while. But hangitall, he was still sleepy . . . and very comfortable, and warm, and . . .

Cole's eyes snapped open.

He was gonna be _late!_

Tumbling out of bed, he fumbled for the radio alarm clock at his bedside, trying to see the time. 7:35—dangit! How did six months put him that out of practice?!

Leaving the bedclothes in disarray, he scrambled through a quick shower, trying not to get his hair wet. It was too quiet—mornings always were, it seemed like. He might have slipped out of the habit of waking early, but he was still used to the muffled chaos that had always seemed to fill the _Bounty_. While getting dressed, he flicked the radio on again, letting the blare of music and news fill the silence where battle cries and the rumble of training equipment used to be.

"Morning Quay!" he said breathlessly, barging into the tiny kitchen still brushing his hair. A chocolate Labrador barked in reply and pawed eagerly at her food dish, and Cole obliged with a sluice of kibble. As Quay gobbled eagerly, Cole tossed the hairbrush back into his bedroom and jammed a toaster pastry between his teeth, still struggling into the last few articles of his work outfit. The quarry manager wasn't keen on latecomers . . .

Screw this. Someday he was gonna have his own business. Someday he was gonna save up enough to get a little shop, and he'd sell pastries, and it would be wonderful. He'd be able to stay with his dad all day instead of just evenings too. But that was someday, maybe just a pipe dream, and right now was no time for daydreaming.

He was still trying to untangle the straps of his overalls when a familiar name suddenly blinked through the stream of radio babble.

" _And in today's news, Ninjago is once again saved from its newest threat by our very own ninja team! Lloyd G. reports that the Gloomers have been entirely subdued, and there is no longer any cause for citizens to be alarmed. Luckily, significant collateral damage was prevented by_ —"

Cole's frenetic morning routine slowed for a moment. He pulled the toaster pastry from between his teeth, listening as the cheerful-sounding news lady gave a conveniently compressed account of the action. They'd handled it beautifully. Lloyd, Zane, and Kai. The three of them had stuck together, each driven by the knowledge that they'd never be satisfied unless they were protecting and serving Ninjago—and frankly, they were dynamic. They used to call him from the quarry and Jay from the TV studio quite a bit, when things got hairy . . . they almost never did, anymore. They could handle almost anything between just the three of them.

Cole crammed half the pastry into his mouth and went back to wrangling his overalls, assuring himself that his eyes were not at all misty. The radio meandered on to less personal topics. Quay finished off the kibble and went over to sniff at a pair of slippers—goodness, had those been left there?! He hadn't realized—lying by the door. The dog growled.

"Ahh, come on Quaky," scolded Cole, laughing. "You jealous women! You're gonna have to learn to share, you know that?"

Quay snuffled peevishly and scraped her hind paws at the slippers in disdain. Cole swept the footwear into the closet hastily with one foot, shutting the door. His dad would be up soon, and even if he couldn't see the slippers he might run across them. Awkward questions best avoided.

Cole finally got himself together, grabbed his toolbox, and ruffled the Lab's ears on his way out.

"Take care of Dad till I get home, Quay! Good girl."

He was already tearing out the door when the phone suddenly rang. He hovered in the doorway, glancing tormentedly at the clock—but at last he dropped his gear and dashed back to answer. If it was a telemarketer, he'd give him words all right.

As soon as Cole picked up the phone, he was greeted by the sound of a cargo freighter being disassembled by a host of rusty can openers. Loudly. Cringing, he held the receiver at arm's length until the noise subsided, then pressed it back to his ear.

"Hey Lloyd!"

A peal of laughter answered him.

"You know it's me by now?"

"Oh, no, I know like forty people who answer the phone with sounds of destruction," Cole parried, feeling his heart lifting already. He knew what this had to mean. "What's up?"

"Ah, not much." There was another explosion in the distance. "Though it turns out the Gloomers were just taking time off to regroup and fetch backup, and they're getting just a liiiiiiiittle out of hand here. Feel like swinging by Birchwood Forest for a bit?"

"Do I!" Cole's thoughts were already flying ahead. Call his boss, let him know it was one of "those days." Get the ninja suit out of the closet. Grab all his backup gear and weapons—

Another crash on the other end of the line jolted him back into the present.

"You guys okay over there?"

"Never better!" a distant breathless voice chimed in. Cole had to smile—Kai hadn't sounded that alive in forever. "Get your butt down here, Cole. Six burgers and a basket of fries says you can't reach us before Jay does!"

"Oh, you are _on!_ " Cole was already stretching out the phone cord to reach the closet. "Just watch; I am _not_ letting him win this time."

"Then perhaps you would care to throw some milkshakes into that bet as well?" Zane cut in brightly.

"Yeah, we're gonna be thirsty, and they taste better when you're paying," agreed Lloyd. Laughing, Cole tossed the receiver back onto the hook and started dashing around again with considerably more verve than before. Quay tore circles around him, barking.

"Getting called in again?" Lou appeared in the doorway with a knowing smile. His walk was so confident that you would never have guessed he had to count steps from his room to the kitchen; he had learned the layout of the new house in no time.

"It sounds pretty big!" said Cole exultantly. "You gonna be okay here, Dad?"

"What a question. Get moving! I want you out of here before I can recite an arpeggio, you hear me?"

Cole chuckled and gave his dad a quick hug goodbye before snatching up the last of his gear, pulling the familiar hood down over his face, and bolting out the door. He had to admit, life was good right now.

And if he could just beat Jay to Birchwood Forest, it would be even better.


End file.
